THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER IN FLOYD COUNTY
The following report is taken from The History of
the Ohio Falls Cities and Their Counties, which was published in 1881. This book is
on file at the New Albany Public Library.
“The first white settler in what is now Floyd County
was Robert La Follette father
of Judge D. W. La Follette, of
New Albany Robert La Follette was a Kentuckian, and on the 4th day of
November, 1804, was married in that State. On the next day after his
marriage, accompanied by his young wife he crossed the Ohio River into
the then Indiana Territory, and the same night pitched his camp about
three quarters of a mile east of the month of Knob Creek, a location he
had selected prior to his marriage.
Here he remained, living in his camp until he had
chopped down the trees, cut the logs into proper lengths, cleared off a
small spot of ground, and erected his humble log cabin the first
house built within the present limits of Floyd. County and then removed
from this temporary tent into the cabin
This house was built in the most primitive style. It
was one story high, and contained but one room. The cracks between the
logs were “chinked” with small slabs of wood split from logs and then
daubed with mortar made of clay and water, There no window in it, for
at that time a pane of eight-by-ten window glass, that now sells at
five cents could not be bought for less than seventy-five cents, and
the early settlers were too poor to indulge in so costly a luxury. A
large fire-place extending half the width of one end of the house, and
from which a chimney made of sticks and daubed with mud conducted the
smoke supplied the place now usurped by our modern health destroying
stoves, and answered the double purpose of furnishing heat by day and
heat and light by night. Even tallow candles could not be afforded,
except by a few, in those early days. The roof was of clapboards, split
from the oak timber that composed the principal growth with which our
hardy pioneers ‘were surrounded; and as nails were then worth sixty-two
and a half cents per pound their purchase was impossible, and heavy
poles were laid upon the clapboards and pinned with wooden pins into
the house-log at either end, This made an excellent roof.
In the way of furniture, Mr. La Follette had nothing
besides some bedding, a few rude cooking utensils, and a scanty supply
of cupboard ware. For a bedstead, holes were bored into the logs on the
inside of the house, and long wooden pins driven into the; Upon these
pins were placed two or three puncheons hewn out by Mr. La Follette and
on these puncheons the bed was placed This rude bedstead, thus
improvised, was quite common among the early settlers of Indiana, and
upon such bedsteads have our fathers and mothers passed hundreds of
nights in the sweetest and most invigorating repose after a hard
days labor, Thus slept Robert La Follette and his wife many a time and
oft; and on such a bed their first born was ushered into existence, and
though his birthplace was so humble, he now lives honored and respected
by all who knew him, For a table plain boards were fastened upon wooden
legs with wooden pins. No leaves were required and but two or three
narrow and short boards were necessary for a top, and the table was
complete. Wooden benches supplied the place of chairs, and a few wooden
shelves placed upon wooden pins driven in the logs answered for
cupboard, bureau, and clothes—press.
The floor was of puncheons. This was the home and furnishings of the
first settler within the present limits of Floyd County. It was
finished and first occupied in December1804.
Mr. La Follette's nearest neighbors at this time
lived about ten miles below him in Harrison County, and twelve miles
above him in Clarksville, opposite the falls He brought with him from
Kentucky a few sacks of corn, and getting out of meal about Christmas
he took a small sack of the grain in canoe and paddled his little
vessel and grist up to Tarascon’s mill. at the falls. But a few hours
after arriving at the mill, and before his corn could be ground an
immense field of ice from above began moving down the river over the
falls. The ice continued to increase in amount, and for twelve days
completely blockaded the river and rendered it impossible to cross. All
this time Mr. La Follette was detained at the mill.
During his absence Mrs. La Follette's scanty store
of provisions gave out and for five or six days the only food she had
to subsist upon was parched corn, In those days the only meats used
were what was afforded by the wild game, and this was generally easily
killed as it was required Mr. La Follette has frequently stated that he
could almost any morning kill all the game be needed in half an hour,
within fifty yards of his ho use Bear, deer, wolves, panthers, and
wildcats were numerous in the woods around him, and the hills back of
Knob Creek seemed to be a favorite resort for these wild animals. Bears
and wolves not infrequently came within his enclosure and close up to
his cabin door; and so plenty were wild turkeys, and so tame, that he
often shot them from his own door yard.
This section of the State was, at that early day
frequently visited by wandering gangs of Shawnee and Miami
Indians Mr. & Mrs. La Follette had for their nearest neighbors a
small party of Shawnese, They lived on the most amicable terms with
these Indians; and whenever the marauding Miamis and Shawnese came from
White River and the Wabash into the white settlements along the Ohio,
for purposes of robbery and murder, Mr. La Follette was at once
informed of the danger by his friendly Indian neighbors and his wife
would be sent over the river into Kentucky for safety while he would
join the expeditions of the settlers above and below him to aid in
driving back the savage foe.
Mr. La Follette continued to reside where he first
settled until the division lines between the counties of Harrison and
Clarke had been definitely run, and Charlestown fixed as the county
seat of Clark County. He resided within the limits of Clarke County,
and paid his proportion of the special tax levied to build the first
court house at Charlestown A few years later he removed to Harrison
County, and there paid a special tax levied to build the court house at
Corydon, When Floyd County was organized in 1819, he was thrown into
this county and when the court house was built at New Albany, he paid
his proportion of the tax levied to build it, He thus, in the period of
fourteen years paid special taxes to build
three court houses.
Mr. La Follette continued to reside on the farm to
which he removed from the vicinity of Knob Creek until his death, which
occurred in January; 1867. At the time of his death he was eighty-nine
years old, and had resided within the territory of what is now Floyd
County sixty-two years and two months His wife died about one year
earlier; at the age of seventy-nine, and sixty-one years after her
settlement here.
In all the relations of life Robert La Follette was
a good man, He was conscientiously religious; his house was for many
years a preaching place for the Regular Baptists. And the pioneer
ministers of that denomination, as well as of all others, always made
his home a stopping place and ever found there a cordial welcome. He
subscribed for the first newspaper ever published in Floyd County, and
continued to take a paper up to the day of his death. He is now with
the companion of his youths pioneer life, enjoying the rewards of a
well spent life in that house not made with hands—-eternal in the
heavens.
Mr. La Follette’s family was followed into this
section by Clement Nance, Sr. and his family.
There is little doubt that Knob Creek in Floyd
County was named by Robert LaFollette since the family lived for
Several years near Knob Creek in Kentucky, Since some of the early
settlers arrived in Indiana before the days of land grants, one of the
problems of early America was also described in the above mentioned
book as follows.
“The matter of “jumping” a claim, or dispossessing a
squatter of his rights, was considered a very serious matter among the
pioneers, and often led to the bitterest of feuds Which continued many
years among neighbors, and was often continued by the children for
several generations breaking out occasionally in bloodshed and murder,
From this fact and the further fact that land was plenty there was
enough for all was seldom resorted to, unless for spite as appears to
have been the case in some instances, Sometimes, however when a
squatter had occupied and partially cleared a piece of desirable land,
the temptation to possess it was too strong, and it was entered by some
stranger, regardless of consequences Such was the case with Mr. La
Follette, Probably the first settler of the county After toiling upon
his farm in the woods for several years, building the cabin, clearing
off fifteen or twenty acres of the heaviest of woodland, and otherwise
improving it, he suddenly became aware that some other person had
entered it and was owner of it, and all his years of labor were going
far naught. The distance to Vincennes being great, and having no way to
get there, except on foot, he neglected going not thinking any one mean
enough to dispossess him, or hoping that the fact of his not having
entered it would remain unknown until he could go to Vincennes and
perform that duty, He was disappointed) and was accordingly compelled
to start anew on another farm in the wilderness, leaving all his
improvements behind".
Robert LaFollette was apparently dispossessed from
his land about 1810, for records at the Floyd County court house reveal
that he acquired a land grant on April12 1819.
The following are quotations
from History of
Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson. Jennings, Scott and
Washington Counties, published
in 1889
This Book in on file at the New Albany
Public Library,
“Robert La Follette, who emigrated to the Territory
of Indiana November 4, 1804, The preceding day he had married Miss Martha Sampson and together
they had crossed the Ohio river and pitched their tent about
three-fourths of a mile east of Knob Creek, which location he had
previously selected, Here in the unbroken wilderness surrounded by the
dusky forms of t the Unfriendly Indians, they resolved to make their
future home and commenced the battle of life, They remained in camp
until Mr La Follette had made a cleaning, cut logs and built This was
the first house built in Floyd County and the young wife was the first
white woman who settled there, Their nearest neighbors were ten miles
below there in Harrison County The Shawanee Indians were their
immediate neighbors and with them they lived on the most peaceful
terms; when marauding tribes from other sections made their
appearance in the vicinity Mr. La Follette was warned by her Indian
friends and sent across the river to her people, while her husband
joined the expedition to drive them back. They underwent all the
hardships of pioneer life; a crude cabin with a floor of split logs
sheltered them, and bed, table, and other furniture at split boards
were the household equipment's of the young settlers. Mr. La Follette
continued to reside where he first settled and the the division line
between Clark and Harrison counties was drawn, he was thrown into Clark
County and paid his share towards building the first court house at
Charlestown, the county seat, A few years later he moved into Harrison
County and helped to build by special tax, the court house at Corydon,
and afterward when Floyd County was organized, he found himself in that
county and paid his proportion of the levy to build the first court
house at New Albany. He remained on the farm to which he had removed
from the vicinity of Knob Creek, until his death. which occurred in
January, 1867, when he was eighty nine years of age. He had resided in
the limits of what is now Flayed County for sixty two years, and his
wife sixty one years, Robert La Follette’s house was for many
years used for meetings by the regular Baptist minister, and pioneer
preachers of all denominations were cordially welcomed. While he was
conscientiously religious he was also religiously conscious of his duty
to kill hostile Indians and never missed an opportunity of joining in
the chase."
Another article from the same book is recorded as follows:
“The first persons to settle in Floyd County were Patrick Shields and wife, They came
into the county in the spring of 1804 and “squatted” upon a half
section of land near the western border of the county, in Georgetown
township, and near the town of Georgetown. The next family to come in
to Floyd County was that of Robert La Follette, This family also came
from Kentucky. They reached Floyd County in the autumn of 1804 and
settled upon Government land on Knob Creek, in Franklin Township,
Robert La Follette and his wife were a sturdy couple, possessing all
the material to make them pioneers of a new country. They were
courageous and physically strong and healthy, of sterling integrity and
distinguished for industry. They were poor financially, but rich in
resources, and while they were often in great straits there was
never a time when they were in want. Both were good shots with the
rifle, and when other resources for provisions began to fail, either of
them could take down the trusty rifle from its resting place on
buck horn brackets above the cabin door and speedily replenish the
larder with a deer, a few wild turkeys, and an occasional bear,
Squirrels while numerous. were considered too small game to waste
costly ammunition upon. It was thirteen miles from their home to the
nearest mill Tarascan's Mill by shipping Port, and a journey "to Mill"
was attended by dangers. Mr. LaFollette usually made this trip in
a flat bottom box shaped skiff, rowing up the river near the shore to
avoid the strong current. The trip homeward was much easier, for the
skiff would float with the current at the rate of four miles per hour,
requiring but little rowing and only guidance. On a cold day in the
latter part of December, 1806, Mr. La Follette started in his skiff,
with a sack of grain to Tarascan’s Mill. The weather grew colder
steadily, and when he finally reached the mill the mercury was
several degrees below zero and the river rapidly filling with floating
ice, The next morning heavy ice filled the Ohio from shore to shore,
and the pioneer felt that he was cut off from home where his wife
and baby were
alone and unprotected, He determined to reach the Indiana shore,
feeling a presentiment of danger to his family; but in his effort he
was nearly drowned, his rescue from the ice being effected by several
brave men at eminent peril. He could only wait for the river to close
by ice, and this it did in a few days, as the weather grew intensely
cold. As soon as he thought the ice would bear his weight, he placed
his sack of corn meal in his skiff, which he pushed over the ice ahead
of him till he came to Sand Island, Here he crossed over to the Indiana
shore, hid his skiff in the undergrowth of bushes, -and taking his sack
of corn meal on his shoulders started for his home, which he reached by
evening. He found his wife without provisions of any kind except meat,
and almost without fire, She stated that on his second night from home,
two Indians had come to the cabin and tried to gain entrance. She took
down the rifle and carefully loaded it, and then placed her flax hackle
near for use in an emergency. The Indians were ordered away and she
prepared for them to see her rifle that they might know she was
prepared for defense, She kept up a steady conversation as if with
someone In the house with her, and in this way deceived the Indians who
left after an hours stay in the vicinity of the house, They returned
the next afternoon and begged to be admitted and given something to
eat, but Mrs. La Follette once more warned them away with her rifle and
they disappeared over the hills and were seen no more.
The family Bible of Robert and Martha LaFollette revealed the following
births to this early Floyd County couple,
1.Phebe LaFollette, born April 7, 1807
2.Elizabeth LaFollette, born January 5, 1810
3.Susan LaFollette, born January 25, 1812
4.Joseph LaFollette) twins
5.William LaFollette) born April 19, 1814
6. Isaiah LaFollette, born December 9, 1816
7. Evevilla LaFollette, born September 19, 1819
8. Rozilia LaFollette, born March 26, 1823
9. David Waler LaFollette, born September 13, 1825
10. Malinda LaFollette, born March 2, 1828
11. Marian LaFollette, born October 24, 1832
*note Robert LaFollette is my third Great Grandfather if you are
related to this line I would love to hear from you
your host Barbara Ziegenmeyer
