Smith Township

Smith Township

Was formed and officially recorded by the Board of County Commissioners, March 24, 181 7, and at that time included its present boundaries, with additional territory that has since become a part of Warrick and Gibson Counties. It was named after George Smith, one of the earliest and most prominent settlers, at whose house the first election was held. On August 15, 181 7, "all that part of Smith township lying North of the main Big Creek and South of Reeter's race" was added to and became a part of Lynn. Smith was the first of the townships in the Northern part of the County to secure the advantages of railway communication, a subsidy being voted to the

E. & T. H. R. R. for an extension of its line from Owensville, in Gibson County, to Cynthiana, in that township, in 1880. The number of acres of land cultivated in Smith in 1880 was 5,897, the production of wheat averaging fifteen, while the yield of corn was thirty-five bushels per acre for that year.

Source changes here: from History of Posey County, Indiana, by Leffel, John C., B, published 1913; 291 words in this source stream.

Smith Township

Smith township at the time of its organization, March 24, 1817, by the board of county commissioners, included, in addition to its present area, additional territory which has since become parts of Gibson and Warrick counties and Lynn township.

William Davis, assessor and inspector of merchandise ; John Armstrong and James Martin, overseers of the poor; John McCrary, constable; Josiah Elkins, supervisor of all the roads in Smith township; Miles Armstrong, inspector of an election, held on the twelfth day of April of that year for the purpose of electing two justices of the peace.

George Smith, one of the first to settle in the township, built a horse mill for grinding corn and wheat about two miles south of Cynthiana. He also ran a still in connection with it, exchanging a gallon of whiskey for a bushel of meal.

Kimball's grist mill. Knight's grist mill, Alcorn's grist and saw mill, and Elperman's grist and saw mills were all located on Big creek, where excellent water power was afforded.

Lumber in those days was sawed with a whip saw. Jonathan and William Moutry did a great deal of sawing for the neighbors with their hand saw mill.

Ford Robinson built a cotton gin about 1825, but cotton soon became cheap and people stopped raising cotton. But during the Rebellion cotton reached such a high price that people began raising it again, and Elisha Jones built and operated a cotton gin.

Was organized in March, 1817, and when Vanderburgh county was formed, January 7, 1818, it became a part of that county and is known as Perry township. It was named after William Wagnon, a very early settler and one of the first panel of jurors that ever sat in Posey county.