HENDRICKS COUNTY INDIANA
MARION TOWNSHIP
TOPOGRAPHY
The boundaries of Marion township are
as follows: On the north by Eel
River township, on the east by Center and Clay, on the south by Clay
and on the west by Putnam county. The surface in most places is
undulating and in some spots flat. There is a clay subsoil throughout
the entire township, making the ground more productive for the raising
of grasses and thus making the business of stock raising equal to crop
cultivation as the principal industry. There are no large streams, but
several small ones flowing toward the two creeks, Mill and Eel river.
EARLY
SETTLEMENT
Marion township was settled later
than most of the other townships, due
to its position in the middle west of the county. Naturally the tide of
immigration first touched the southern parts of the county, along the
main stream channels, and Marion township was then considered a remote
district. It was not until two years after the organization of the
county, which was in 1824, that permanent settlements were made here.
The first settlers were Thomas Samuels, Jury West, John and Isaac Hays,
Daniel, Thomas and David Higgins. who settled in the township from 1826
to 1827. From 1828 to 1832 Paul Faught, Moses Cavett, William
Blackketter, William and Harvey Buntain, G. W. Turner, Wesley
Morgan, Peter Vannice, Thomas Chadd, John Hancock, James McCown and
William Hays settled in different portions of the township.
FIRST
ELECTION
The poll book of the general election
held August 3, 1836, at New
Williamsburgh gives the names of thirty one voters. They are as
follows: William Hodges, Elijah Sutton, David Fox, Henry Tomlinson,
William Bailey, Abraham Lewis, Alexander Bryant, William Tomlinson,
James Turtier, Bradford Samuel, R. W. Shannon, Jeremiah Culbertson,
Joseph Lewis, Jr., James Maccoun, John Higgins, Jacob Fox, Henry Bland,
William Hay-worth, John Mahan, John Robins, Jordan Denny, William
Robins, John Vicory, Joseph Robins, Wesley Morgan, Hiram Tomlinson, B.
S. B. Parker, Moses Tomlinson, Jeremiah Hunt, Martin Hancock and Thomas
Higgins. The political record of Marion township has been Democratic
since its organization.
MARION
TOWNSHIP IN I914
The intelligent cultivation of the
soil, the pride in home, and the
striving for better things and higher ideals, the qualities which
characterize a prosperous and modern community, are no better
exemplified than among the people of Marion township. The
accomplishments of the people of this civil division of Hendricks
county are testimonials to this condition. To the observer much seems
to have been done in the last score of years. Roads have been built up,
new farming methods have been adopted, schools have "been improved,
elegant residences have been constructed, churches have been
increasing, telephones installed, and numerous other things added in
order to keep step with the progress of civilization
NEW WINCHESTER
New Winchester was laid out in 1832
by Wesley Morgan and James
Thronaugh. It is located a little west of the center of Marion township
and is seven miles west of Danville, on the Rockville road. The town
today is very small, having but a hundred inhabitants. The most,
attractive feature of the town is the new brick school house,
containing the high school, erected in 1908 at a cost of twenty
thousand dollars.