Patoka Township

Patoka Township

This town is three miles north of Princeton, the county seat, twenty-one miles south of Vincennes, and thirty-one miles north of Evansville, situated on Sections 24 and 25, Township 1 South, Range 10 West, and on the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad, and the banks of the Patoka River, from which it derives its name. Patoka is an Indian name and signifies 'log on the bottom," and was applied to the river on account of so many logs having settled to the bottom, which stuck fast in the slimy mud. This town was first called Smithfield, then Columbia, and was platted and recorded as such in October, 1818. We cannot fix the date when Columbia began to assume village proportions. It is undoubtedly the oldest town or hamlet in the county, and that quite a collection of families had built homes and lived here long before it was laid out and recorded. It was for years a stage station between "Stringtown " (now Evansville) and Vincennes, until the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad made staging over this route a thing that was. The old log building which was erected for a hotel and stage station is still standing, and having been weather-boarded and otherwise repaired, it presents quite a respectable appearance, and, with its veranda or porch extending along the entire front, is suggestive of old time hospitality and comfort to the cramped and stage-weary traveler, the stiff and saddle-chaffed equestrian and the tired and foot-sore pedestrian. There being another Columbia in the state, the post-office here was given the name of " Patoka," and the town assumed the name of the office. Patoka River, though not properly a navigable stream, has had its day of steamboating. During high water boats of small tonnage occasionally ran up as far as the town of Patoka, and two small boats, Staver and Maud, built on the river at and above Patoka, one for the stave trade, the other for handling flats and barges, operated above Patoka for some time, but they are not operating here now, one having been sunk by the ice, and the other, finding it more profitable, is plowing the waters of the Wabash and White Rivers. Thomas H. Martin is believed to be the first hotel keeper, as well as the first spiritual adviser in this ancient village, which is not incorporated, but running on the broad tread or what the "wise ones" suppose to be the more economical plan. She has at this time about 800 inhabitants and has seen better days. Distilleries first made her prosperous, and then crooked whisky sheared her golden locks, nipped her prestine vigor, made her prematurely gray and hurled her on the down grade of the stream of time, from which she is not likely soon to recover; and also disgraced and bankrupted several of her own citizens and made criminals of other residents of the county, only a few of whom were made to feel the power of the law which they had violated. Whisky has ever been one of the staples of this town; two saloons here now, and the time was when merchants and hotels all kept it on sale. A business man here to-day says that on looking over his grandfather's old bills of purchase he found the average about thus: - One barrel of molasses, two barrels of whisky, showing a double demand for the "necessary tanglefoot" over luxurious treacle. Patoka has three churches - Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist - over which the following gentlemen preside as expounders of their faith: - Baptist, W. A. Oliphant, of Fort Branch; Presbyterian, W. B. Crawford; Methodist, Gideon Heavenridge. The school facilities are excellent, having a graded system. The school building is a two story and substantial frame structure with six large, comfortable rooms, five for the different grades and one for general school exercises and school entertainments. The management of these schools has been under the supervision of competent instructors, and are in a prosperous condition.

The manufacturing interests of Patoka are represented by two steam saw-mills, with a combined capacity of from 85,099 to 45,000 feet of lumber per day; one steam planing-mill, caprsity 3,099 to 4,000 feet per day; two flouring-mills, one steam, the other water, with a combined capacity of 100 barrels per day, and three blacksmith shops, and three wagon and carriage repair-shops. The steam flouring-mill has attachments for miking the "patent process" flour. The water mill his a combination of buhrs and rollers, being the " gradual reduction process" of making flour, and is siid to be the bes! system yet discovered. We subjoin a roster of the leading business of Patoka and

A. F. & A. M. Columbia Lodge, No. 450, was organized in 1870, and worked under a dispensation until May 27, 1873, when they received their charter. The charter members were: - John Grant, W. M.; W. C. Fisher, S. W.; J. C. Church, J. W.; J. W. Harris, Treas.; P. H. Spain, Sec.; John Kingston, 8. D.; A. G. Leffell, J. D.; G. W. Kenerly, Tyler; Israel Staugh, H. P. Chambers, F. C. Federer, J; D. Fisher, I. B. Fisher, W. 8. Hargrove, M. Key and William Williard. The present officers are: - W. J. Hall, W. M.; E. S. Eldridge, S. W.; William Stermer, J. W.; G. C. Fisher, Treas.; J. D. Fisher, Sec.; W. T. Lucas, 8. D.; W. C. Harris, J. D.; J, W. Hawes, Tyler. The present membership 17.

Hazleton is a village of about 500 inhabitants, situated on the south bank of White River and the EH. & F. R. R. on Military Donation No. 32, and location No. 7, containing 82 acres; but since that time additions have been made to it so that it contains 142 acres. It was laid out in 1856 by Gervas Hazleton, from whom it takes its name. The second settlement in the county was made here, as well as the second ferry - it was also a noted stage stand in the early days - and Hazleton's home was a place where the traveler was always welcomed and entertained. It was surveyed and platted by one Lucius French. This town, like its neighbor, Patoka, was badly crippled by crooked whisky, as also by several destructive fires which consumed the business houses and other important structures, among which were a distillery and a large steam flouring mill and storehouse for grain, belonging to Mr. A. V. West. Over 80,000 bushels of wheat were consumed in the building, and also valuable machinery. This mill has never been rebuilt, therefore the town is dependent on other places for her bread stuff. The loss of that important industry in her bounds and the use of the valuable capital burned, is severely felt. Hazleton has water navigation a part of each year. Her railroad facilities are excellent, and with the river advantages and the large expanse of farming lands and forests far up the river, which pay tribute to the business of this mart, gives the town a future promise, bright above many of her more pretentious sisters. In the early days flat and keel boats were the mode of transporting produce down the rivers, and keel boats to bring back groceries, dry goods and other merchandise demanded by: the people. Imagine men shoving a keel boat, loaded with merchandise, from New Orleans, La., to Gibson County, Ind., and you will have the situation when Gibson County was in her infancy. Men are living who have heard keel-boat-men curse steamboats and their inventions. Their occupation was gone.

The first steamboat, Cleopatria, perhaps, passed up White River about 1834. She made fast at the ferry landing where Hazleton now stands. The first building erected in this town after it was laid out was a frame for a store, built in 1856 by T. S. Fuller and Abraham Westfall. John Breedlove was the first blacksmith and built the first shop. Following is the business roster of Hazleton: - Drugs, and notions, W. S. Sisson & Co. and A. B. Depriest; general merchants, H.C. & C. C. Agr, Kightley & West, Theodore Wheeler, A. C. Sisson and Reedy Bros.; physicians and surgeons, Dr. J. F. Gudgel, P. H. Curtner and F. Nelson; millinery, Mrs. Daniel Knight and Mrs. L. I. Hazleton; undertaking goods and notions, Mrs. L. I. Hazleton; confections and lunch, P. H. Ehlers; tinner, K. DBanks; saloons, H. F. Thorn and Samuel Adams; billiards and pool, H. D. Johnson; barber, C. T. Phillips; hotels, W. H. Thorn & Son, Mrs. R. A. Hyneman and Mrs. M. A. Briscow; blacksmiths, L. H. Furgeson, Theodore Thomas; painters, A. Kirk, K. D. Banks; carpenters, Peter Snyder, Newton Knight, L. S. Pearson, Samuel Pearson, Charles Pearson, H. F. Thorn, James Bolden, James McGuire and Samuel Milburn; saw-mills, Phillip Klein & Gettes, Gervas Hazleton; stave and heading factory, Phillip Klein; harness,

Henry Stiter; gunsmith, Daniel Knight, livery and feed stable, A. V. West; lumber dealer, T. J. Ellis and W. L. Robbins; shoemakers, P. H. Ehlers.

settled in Kentucky soon after the clese of the Revolutionary War. Keen Fields, the grandfather of the present family, was a native of Kentucky, and emigrated to Indiana while it was yet under teriitorial form of government. He made his first hcme cn a militia tract east and adjoining the farm of Mrs. Nancy A. Richards (whose maiden name was Fields) in White Township. He there opened up a faim and made it his permanent place of abode, until his death, which occurred in 1815. He married Anna West, who servived him a number of years. By that union there were ten children, eight sons and two daughters. One yet survives. The youngest son, Keen Fields, a resident of Greene County, Ill. Abraham Fields, the father of Mrs. Nancy A. Richards, was bern in Kentucky Dec. 27, 1793. He came with his parents to Indiana and was yet in his boylocd when the family landed here. He followed, for the greater portion of his life, the peaceful occupation of a farmer. He also built flat boats and teamed, hauling goods from Evansville to Terre Haute and Palmyra, Il]. That was before the days of railroads. He died at the old homestead April 12, 1870. He married Grace Reiney, daughter of William and Esther Reiney, who were native of Ireland. William Reiney was born in Dublin in 1776. He married Esther Robinson, who was born in Ireland in 1777. The marriage tcok place in 1798 in South Carolina. Mr. Reiney dicd in Missouri Jan.

1806. They emigrated to America and settled in South Carolina, where Mrs. Grace Fields was born July 31, 1797. She died March 81, 1862. By that union there were ten children - six sons and four daughters, five of whom have survived the parents and are yet living. Keen W. Fields, one of the surviving sons, is a substan- Cynthia is the wife of L. H. Turner and is also a resident of the above named county. Benjamin R., a resident of this county, Stephen L., of Toledo, Cumberland County, Ill., and Mrs. Nancy A. Richards, the subject cf this sketch, are the names of the survivors of the family of Abraham Fields. Mrs. Naney A. Richards was born on the old hcmestead in White River Township, Gibson County, Ind., Jan. 12, 1823. She remained at home until her marriage to William Martin, which happy event occurred Aug. 5, 1840. Mr. Martin was a native of Kentucky. He died Feb. 14, 1852, leaving his widow and three children. One only yet survives, whose name is Jane. She is the wife of James L. Erwin. They have four children, whose names are Nannie A., Anna Maud, Nicks A. R. and Edna Florence Erwin. On the 4th of May, 1854 Mrs. Martin, nce Fields, married Mr. Nicks A. Richards. He was a native of Tennessee, born near the city of Nashville March 16, 1829. The family emigrated soon after his birth to Richland County, Dl., where Mr. Richards was reared. He came to Gibson County in 1852, where he, remained until his death, which sad event occurred July 13,1874. This union was productive of great happiness, as Mr. Richards was a kind, indulgent husband, possessing an affectionate nature and domestic habits. He was a strong believer in the religious tenets of the Baptist Church, although not a member of that religious organization. Hedied universally regretted. The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Richards adorns another page of this work. We also invite the reader's attention to anelegant view of their old homestead.

Are among the early settlers of Gibson County. They are of Scotch origin. The ancestors emigrated from Scotland to America and settled in Virginia prior to the Revolutionary War,in which memorable contest some of them took an active part. Thomas Stewart, the great grandfather, was born near Lynchburg, Va., April 9, 1768. He married Terzah Morrison, Jan. 30, 1794. She was born in the same locality in Virginia, Aug. 80, 1759. By that union there were three children, viz.: - William, Nancy and Samuel Ayres Stewart. William came West with his brother to Gibson County in 1818, and settled in Patoka, and from there went North to the lead mines at Galena, Ill., and there dicd. Nancy married a man by the name of Lacky, removed to Kentucky, where she remained until her death. Samuel Ayres Stewart, the father and grandfather of the present family, was born in Virginia Dee. 10, 1797, and there grew to:manhood. On arriving at his nativity, hein company with his brother came West to seek their fortunes; landing herein 1818. They were attracted to Gibson County through their acquaintance with parties who were then former neighbors, and who had preceded them here. Here Mr. Stewart engaged first in the milling business and in the winter months taught school. He also scon after entered land and engaged in farming, which was his principal occupation until his death. He died prematurely young from an attack of pnemnonia, May 24, 1849, while in his fiftysecond year. During his life and residence in Gibson

He was of a naturally religious turn of mind and at an early age attached himself to the Methodist Kpiscopal Church. His zeal-and earnestness in the cause of religion pointed him out as one worthy to preach and expound the gospel according to the tenets of his adopted church, and he was accordingly licensed to preach in 1830. On the 5th of October, 1884, he was ordained a deacon by Bishop Roberts at Mt. Carmel, and on the 10th of October, 1847, he was regularly ordained an elder in Evansville by Bishop Waugh. He was an earnest, forcible speaker, and his sermons were clear, sound and discriminate, both in the presentment and sustaining of the doctrine and precepts of Chyistianity.

In political matters he was quiet, though firm in his convictions of what he deemed to be right. He was unutterably opposed to the institution of slavery and left his native state in order to escape its baneful influences. He held during his life a number of offices of honor and trust, among which was that of associate judge, to which position he was elected in 1837. In

1845 he was appointed by Governor James Whitcomh probate judge, to fill the unexpired term of Judge French, and in August of the same year, was elected to the same position for the full term. He was also collector for the county taxes of the year 1889. All of these positions he filled with credit to himself and honor to those who reposed full confidence in him. On the 29th of January, 1824, he was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda, daughter of Robert Howe. She was born in Kentucky, March 38, 1806, and died April 5, 1874. Of this union there were eleven children, five of whom are yet hving. Their names are Thomas, Tirzah, wife of B. C. Asheraft, John W., Mary J., wite of B. Taylor, and Nathaniel F. Stewart. John W. was a member Company A Hightieth Regiment Infantry three years, from Aug. 10, 1862, to close of war. Thomas, the eldest of the family, was born in Gibson County, Ind., July 29, 1828. Here he was reared and received a limited education in the subscription schools of a half century ago.

On the 29th of September, 1853, he was united in marriage to Miss Susan L., daughter of James and Elizabeth (Payen) Hudelston. She was born in Gibson* County, Noy. 80, 1830. Her parents emigrated from Kentucky to Indiana, while the latter was yet a territory. Her maternal grandfather was a soldier under Harrison in the Indian wars.

By that wnion there have been six children, four of whom are living. Their names in the order of their birth are Samuel A., Clara E., wife of M. $. Knaub, one child, Florence A., wife of J. C. Danks, two children, son and daughter, James W., Minnie, also dead, and John Howard Stewart, yet beneath the parental roof, Samuel A. was born near Patoka, Gibson County, Ind., July 17, 1854, and was here reared and received a common school education, in addition to which he received a commercial education in the Evansville Commercial College, from which he received his diploma on Aug. 14, 1874. His father engaged in general merchandise, and after his graduation from the commercial school he went into partnership with his father, which continued until 1879, when the firm of Stewart & Davis was formed, which still continues. He is aimember of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Masonic order. At the death of J. T.. Lamb, in September, 1868, he was appointed postmaster of Patoka, which position he still occupies. On the 2nd day of December, 1877, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary E., daughter of Thomas C. and Mary D. Danks, natives of Pittsburg, Penn. There have been three children, one son and two daughters, named Edith D., Charles H. and Clara. Wife also member of Methodist Episcopal Church. Republican in politics. Thomas Stewart abandoned farming in 1869 and engaged in mercantile business.

Samuel A. Stewart, his grandfather, was a member of Liberty Lodge, No. 95, Liberty, Va., and demited from same in 1820 to identify himself with the lodge at Princeton, Ind.

The ancestry of the Daniels family is of English extraction. They came to America some time prior to the War of Independence. Members of the family took part in that conflict. They settled on the seaboard, where Joseph Daniels, the grandfather of the present family, was born. He was by profession a seafaring man. During the War of 1812 held the position of sailing master on the sloop of war Hornet, and participated his Naval History says "that a great share of that victory was due to the superior skill and manner in which the Hornet was handled in the engagement by her sailing master." Joseph Daniels was subsequently lost at sea, family were residents of New York state, where she had removed prior to Mr Daniel's ill-fated voyage. There were six sons ahd one daughter, the offspring of Joseph and Sally Daniels. Of the sons was Stephen, the father of William D. He was born in Ontario County, N. Y., in 1797. He emigrated to Ohio in 1822, and settled in the old town of Marietta, where he was a resident until his death, in 1853. He was a bridge builder and railroad contractor, and in that calling was well known throughout the state of Ohio. He married Sophia Warren, a native of Boston, Mass. She was the daughter of William Warren, a direct descendant of Gen. Warren, the hero of the battle of Bunker Hill, whose tragic death is well known to all students of American history. William Warren, the maternal grandfather, married Hannah Dickerson. Her father was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and subsequently a member of the Continental

Was born in Monroe County, Ind., Feb. 18, 1851. He received a good education in the common and graded schools of the state. At the age of twenty he commenced the study of medicine in the office and under the direction of Dr. J. W. Runcie, and after reading the standard text books he entered the Evansville Medical College at Evansville, Ind., and took the regular course and graduated from that institution, Feb. 27, 1876, with the degree of M. D. He commenced the practice of his profession the same year, and six months later came to the village of Patoka, where he has continued it with success up to the present. He is a member of the Gibson County Medical Society, and was its vice-president

Congress. As will be seen by the foregoing, the Daniels family are from the old New England stock. In their veins courses the blood of the sturdy patriotic men who made independence possible and secured the inestimable boon of liberty and free government to the people of this country. Mrs. Daniels still survives her husband, although past four score years of age. She isa resident of Brazil, Ind. William Danforth Daniels is the fourth in the family of seven children. He was early day superior to many others in the state. In 1857, while yet a boy, he came West to White River Townsbip, in Gibson County, and settled in the village of Patoka, and there he has remained to the present. He engaged in the lumber business, and extended it into the states of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. It is needless to say that he has by the exercise of energy and enterprise made the business profitable.

He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Sarah Fullerton, a native of this county. She died in 1872. By that marriage there were five children. In 1873 he married his present wife, who was Miss Kate Blanche, riage. Politically he isa Republican. James W. Daniels, his brother, was a brave and gallant soldier during the late war. He was a member of the Fourth Ohio Cavalry. He died at Little Rock, Ark., Jan. 30, 1884.

M. Shears, Md

in 1888. By close attention to the practice and always faithfully trying to excel in his chosen profession, he has built up a large and lucrative business. He was one year in partnership with Dr. Howard, a well-known physician of Gibson County. In December, 1878, he opened a drug store in Patoka in connection with his brother, W. S. Sears, which buginess is still continued by the firm. They have a large and well-selected stock of pure drugs, chemicals and everything kept in a firstclass drug store. In 1878 he was united in marriage to Miss Teresa, daughter of James G. and Nancy A. Higginbotton, an estimable young lady and matron of Gibson County. In politics Dr. Sears is Republican.

Source changes here: from History of Gibson County, Indiana : Her People, Industries and Institutions, with Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by Stormont, Gil R, published 1914; 3,220 words in this source stream.

Patoka Township

The life of the early pioneer, now that the softening caress of time has been placed there, has been set in scenes of romance and dramatic interest. The tales of privations, of battles, of sacrifices in the struggle to build a home, are becoming a bit of folklore, and have become traditional epics, to us the same as the Saga to the N^orseman, the tales of Siegfried to the German, or even as our own Anglo-Saxon fathers. The American pioneer, wherever he traveled, met primal conditions, and with primitive implements he coped with them. The magnificent forest dwindled before his axe and was superseded by golden rows of grain. Heroic in combat, as he was gentle in his home, the settler is monumental. Simple, religious, family-loving and sturdy, the present generation thus holds him in memory and ennobles him.

Patoka township was organized at the first session of the common pleas court, held at the house of Judge William Harrington, on May lo, 1813, the house being located in the southwest quarter of section 11, township 2, range II, a mile and a half southwest of the present court house. Since that time, however, the boundaries of the township have been repeatedly changed. It is now bounded on the north by White river and Washington townships, east by Center and Barton, south by Union, and west by Montgomery. The land is drained by the Patoka river and its tributaries in the north. Snake run and Pigeon creek in the southeast, and Central and Muddy creek in the south. Originally the surface of Patoka township was thickly covered with timber, but this has been nearly all cleared off and the land made into rich and productive farms. The surface is for the most part imdulating. but in the north and east portions, and approaching the stream, the ground becomes very rugged and knobby.

Two miles north of Princeton is Bald hill, which rises to an elevation of one hundred and thirty feet above the town and two hundred and twenty feet above the Wabash river. Movmd Builders are probably responsible for the rounded top, as there are other evidences of this prehistoric race in this part of the state. Considerable bottom land ranges through the western part

Early Settlements

With the opening of the nineteenth century settlements began to be made in Gibson county. John Severns had settled near the south bank of the Patoka river, at Severns' bridge even before the opening of the century. He was undoubtedly the first man to live in Gibson county. In 1798 John Johnson, a native of Virginia, came to this county in 1802, by way of Kentucky, accompanied by his family. The old soldier, Capt. William Hargrove, was the next settler of any note. He was a native of North Carolina and emigrated to this section in the year 1803. He was afterward an officer in the battle of Tippecanoe, In 1805 James McClure and his brother-in-law, Isaac Montgomery, came 'to this county. The person of Gen. Robert M. Evans is one of the most prominent of early Gibson history. He was born in Virginia. He came to the county in 181 1, and immediately afterward joined Harrison's army and participated in the campaign against the Indians, including the battles of Tippecanoe and the Thames. He afterward lilled many important official positions in this county. His brothers, James, Alexander Lyle and Thomas Jefferson, moved here in 1810. James Wheeler, William Latham, William Harrington, Robert Archer, Capt. Henry Hopkins, Joseph Woods, Daniel Putnam, Rev. Alexander Devin, a Baptist minister, John Braselton, Stephen Strickland, John Clements, Eli Strain, Chauncey Pierce, John C. Fisher, William Barker were others among the early settlers, and many of them lived to distinction in the growing community.

Tecumseh's conspiracy created a great amount of excitement in the county during the time of his depredations. In the summer of 1810 the Indian forces were being organized at the Prophet's town, and the settlers were on edge, prepared to fight the hostiles at a moment's notice. Rude forts or stockades were constructed, three of them in Patoka township. Fort Branch, Fort Hopkins, and one at William Harrington's, on the old Mc- Curdy place.

In November, iSii, Joshua Embree came from Kentucky. The Stormonts and other prominent families arrived in 1812. Mrs. Nancy Stormont, widow of David Sto/mont, who emigrated from Ireland, and settled in South Carolina before the Revolution, came to this county wtih her mother, Mrs.

Mary Boyd, and a large family. They located about two and one-half miles northwest of Princeton. James Kirkman came in 1813. Other leading families afterward came, and the township has seen a steady growth ever since.

The first schools were taught about 1810 in small log cabins. Adley Donald, David Buck, Maj. James Smith, Ira Bostwick and John Kell were a few of the earliest teachers.

The town of Patoka is three miles north of Princeton and twenty-one miles south of Vincennes. It is located on sections 24 and 25, township i south, range 10 west, on the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad and the Patoka river. Patoka is an Indian name, and means "log on the bottom," applying to the many logs that had settled in the mud at the bottom of the Patoka river. The town, which was platted and recorded as early as 18 13, was first called Smithfield, then Columbia, and then by its present name. There is no doubt that it is the oldest town of the county, many having lived there before it was platted. For years it was a stage station between Evansville, "Stringtown" and Vincennes.

tilleries first made her prosperous, tlien crocked whisky sheared her golden locks, nipped her pristine vigor, made her prematurely gray and hurled her on the down grade of the stream of time from which she is not likely to soon recover; and also this disgraced and bankrupted several of her own citizens and made criminals of other residents of the county, only a iew of whom were made to feel the power of the law which they had violated. Whisky has ever been one of the staples of this town; two saloons are here now and the time was when merchants and hotels all kept it on sale. A business man here today says that on looking over his grandfather's old bills of purchase he found the average about thus: One barrel of molasses, two barrels of whisky, showing a double demand for the 'necessary tangle-foot' over luxurious treacle. Patoka has three churclies. Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist. The school facilities are excellent, having the graded system.

"The manufacturing interests of Patoka are represented by two steam saw-mills, with a combined capacity of from three thousand five hundred to four thousand five hundred feet of lumber per day; one steam planing-mill, capacity from three thousand to four thousand feet per day; two flouringmills, one steam and one water, with a combined capacity one hundred liarrels per day, and three blacksmith shops and three large wagon and carriage repair shops. The steam flouring-mill has attachments for making the 'patent process' flour. The water mill has a combination of buhrs and rollers, being the 'gradual reduction process' of making flour and is said to be the best system yet discovered."

In a great many respects the Patoka of today is very much dift'erent from the Patoka as described in the publication from which the foregoing is quoted. A great many of the business industries noted have disappeared, some of them for the town's betterment, but there are still a goodly number of substantial business men in the town and there has been a great improvement in the character and conduct of its citizens since the days of its unsavory record.

"Patoka, the oldest town in Gibson county, was formerly called Smithville. The town was in existence a number of years prior to the organization of the countv. In fact, when John Severns, the first white settler in Gibson county, settled, in 1789, on the south bank of the Patoka river, at a place now known as Severns' bridge, the town of Patoka sprang into being. Other settlers naturally followed the path made liy Severns through the wilderness and when he pitdied tent they did likewise. Severns was the recognized leader and explorer. His business was not that of founding towns and villages. He left this work to others and at this particular time, 1789, one John Smith conceived the idea of inducing the handful of settlers to join him in establishing a permanent village to be called Smithville.

"The records concerning this remarkable town shed no light as to the causes which contributed to the desire to change the name of Smithville for that of Columbia, nor why at the last moment the name of Patoka was finally agreed upon as having more charm than either Smithville or Columbia. All we know is that the oldest inhabitant of the county cannot remember when Patoka was known by any other name than Patoka. And this same Patoka might have been the first if not the only county seat of Gibson county had not a 'black plague' swooped down upon it in 1813-14 and carried off many of its citizens. The epidemic appeared about the same time steps were taken to organize the county and when Patoka manifested a strong inclination to bid for county seat honors. However, the 'black plague' wrought such havoc as to completely preclude anything of this sort. Patoka was a long time recovering from her serious losses. Despite this hindrance, Patoka became an important and probably the principal stage line station between Vincennes and Evansville. This line carried many passengers in its day and Patoka gained much prestige and fame as the result of being the only relay station along the route. And in the days of early steamboating Patoka became a town of much note. Patoka river, though not now a navigable stream, was at an early day the scene of much traffic by boats of small tonnage, especially during high waters which made it possible for boats to run up as far as the town of Patoka. Two small boats were built on the river above Patoka, one for steam trade, the other for moving flats and barges. They operated several years. This river traffic, although quite limited, brought the town into renown among river men far and wide.

"The portion of the land near Patoka was divided by the general government into Militia Donations, locations and surveys. These surveys were made between the years 1794 and 1802. Buckingham, a surveyor in 1804, in his field notes running certain boundaries, states that the blazes and marls on the trees indicated that the last locations were made about two years previously. These donations were originally made to a company of one hundred and twenty-eight militiamen, of a hundred acres each to a man and were laid off in lots of a hundred acres. These lands were given for services rendered in the Indian wars. The persons who received the warrants were allowed to either locate or dispose of the same.

"Patoka being the oldest town in the cdunty, was, as a matter of course, first in everything pertaining to the needs and requirements of an advancing civilization, such as schools, churches, mills, etc. The first grist-mill was erected near Patoka by Keen Fields. The first school house in Gibson county was built in Patoka in 1815 and for several years was used as a house of worship. The first minister to preach there was Rev. Thomas Martin, of the Baptist faith, and it is claimed by one writer that he was the first in the county. The first two-story log house in this county was built in Patoka l)y James Robb. The first merchant was John Smith, in whose honor the tow n was first known as Smithville. Patoka was incorporated in the early nineties.

"It was David Robb, of Patoka. who organized a company of soldiers and participated in the famous battle of Tippecanoe. His volunteers comprised a number of Patoka merchants."

Present Patoka

The general stores are owned by J. W. Myrick, W. P. Casey, Preston the Field brothers and J. T. Boerke ; F. O. Millnirn runs a drug store : Wilkerson & Martin have a dray line ; Paul Kuhn & Company and A. Waller & Company deal in grain; John Duncan has a livery; T. F. Alvis operates a blacksmith shop ; Colonel Lynn and Thomas Patterson are the barbers ; the hotel is conducted by I.. F. Alvis and is named the Alvis House; hardware and implements are sold by Stermer & Jones; harness is kept by C. Reneer; lumber by R. P. Lockhart; Henry Watson manages a mill. There are no resident attorneys in Patoka. The physicians are M. L. and S. I. Arthur. Earl Turpin and Fred Boerke keep restaurants and confectionaries combined; Whiting & Hollis deal in live stock.

The Patoka National Bank was organized in 1909 and chartered the same year. There were thirty-three charter memliers and the first officers were: Alex D. Milburn, president; David W. Hull, vice-president, and William F. Parrett, cashier. The present officers are : D. W. Hull, president; J. W. Adams, vice-president: W. F. Parrett, cashier, and KIdon E.

Field, assistant cashier. The capital stock is now the same as in the beginning, $25,000; the surplus is $7,000, and the deposits amount to $90,000. The bank building was erected in 1908, at a total cost of $3,088.

Defunct Village Of Port Gibson

This place was situated on section 3, township 2 south, range 10 west, on the south bank of the old canal. It was surveyed in the spring of 1852 for proprietors Elisha Embree and Samuel Shannon. It has long since been numbered among the defunct places of this county. J. R. Strickland, of Owensville, a local historian, has described its rise and fall in the following language :

"The history of the rise and fall of Port Gibson is closely interwoven with that of the Wabash and Erie canal, a water-way project born in 1827. In that year the United States government granted to the state of Indiana every alternate section of land along a proposed canal route from Fort Wayne to Evansville, through Lafayette and Terre Haute. In 1830-32 the Indiana Legislature offered these government land grants for sale. The land sold from one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars per acre, the money to be used in digging the canal. The only stipulation was that the government boats and agents be allowed to travel along the canal free of cost.

In 1832 work began on the canal at Fort Wayne. The canal was completed to Evansville in 1852. The entire length of the canal was four hundred and sixty miles, eighty-seven of which were in Ohio. The total cost of the Wabash and Erie canal was six million dollars. Along with the completion of the canal came the railroad as a means of transportation, with the result that the canal became useless before many years. From Evansville to Terre Haute, the canal followed a route that afterward became the right-ofway of the Evansville & Indianapolis railroad.

The Wabash & Erie canal extended through the eastern part of Gibson county and furnished a highway for the transportation of much of the products of this county. The little town of Port Gibson, on the southeast bank of the canal, thrived and waxed strong. There were also two reservoirs at Port Gibson, built as feeders to the canal. One of these covered an area of two thousand four hundred acres, the other being much smaller. The canal also built locks at Port Gibson and altogether the little settlement became an important station, in fact, the principal canal point in Gibson county.

non platted the town of Port Gibson and otherwise prepared for a permanent village. By that time Port Gibson boasted of having a st(jrc, a blacksmith shop and a flouring mill, the latter being promoted by Mr. Iglehardt of Evansville. Later on "Dud" Campbell started a saloon. For a time after the completion of the canal passenger traffic was quite heavy and the boats always stopped for an hour or two at Port Gibson.

Had the railroads been a few years later in coming into the county, the town of Port Gibson would have blossomed into a small city. The arrival of the railroad sounded the death knell of the Wabash and Erie canal and Port Gibson.

This is the second oldest town in Gibson county. It was named in honor of Gervas Hazelton, the second white settler in the county to permanently locate. Gen'as Hazelton first lived in a "camp," the back of which was an immense walnut log and sides of poles covered with bark, the front open to admit the heat and light of large log fires. Hazelton was famed far and wide as an entertainer and his camp was always open to the struggling settlers.

The town of Hazelton was surveyed and platted by Lucius l'>ench in 1856. T. S. Fuller erected the first frame building in Hazelton. In about John Breedlove built a blacksmith shop. Being located on the south bank of White river, the town became a very important port in the days of flat and keel-boats. Numerous cargoes of corn, wheat and pork were shipped from Hazelton every week. New Orleans was then the best market for farm jiroducts raised, at that date, around Hazelton. The hiijhway of travel was via the Patoka, Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi rivers and five or six weeks were required to make the round trip. .\ complement of five men was the usual number required with each boat. .\nd it was no trouble to get hands, as many young men were anxious to make the trip and would do it for little pa\'. Imagine men shoving a keel-boat loaded with merchandise from New Orleans to Hazelton or Patoka and you will get a better idea of Gibson county's situation in its infancy. The first steamboat of any note to pass up White river was the "Cleopatria" ; she made fast at the ferry where Ilazelton stands and attracted big crowds of people.

The Town In I9I3

The present town of Hazelton is a very substantial one, considering the misfortunes that befell the town in earlier years. The town was incorporated

There are three congregations in Flazelton, the Presbyterian, the Methodist and the Baptist, but none of the denominations have a resident pastor. They are composed of about a hundred members each and have existed since the early fifties. There are three main lodges, the Masonic, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, besides numerous insurance and beneficiary lodges.

The Citizens State Bank of Hazelton was organized in May, 1903, and reorganized and rechartered in December, 1910. The first capital stock was $25,000, and the first officers were: Josiah Kightly, president; Lawrence Wheeler, vice-president; Charles L. Howard, cashier; Frank L. Steelman, assistant cashier. The present officers are: H. M. Arthur, president; Aaron Trippet, Sr., vice-president; F. L. Steelman, cashier; Chas. W. McFetridge, assistant cashier. The present capital is $40,000, the surplus and undivided profits, $24,000, and the deposits, $150,000. The bank building was erected in 191 3 and cost the sum of $6,000.