Townships And Villages
The historiographer who
attempts a compilation of records and a narrative of events of a
neighborhood which has been forming for more than a century amid the
changing conditions which mark the erection of an American community
faces a task which would seem well nigh hopeless save for the initial
work done along similar lines by those who were contemporary with those
events. Happily, in the case of the present compilers there have been
earnest, thoughtful men here who, in their generation, "blazed the
ways" for those who might follow them along the gentle paths of local
historical research, lightening the labors of inquiry and investigation
and making clear what otherwise might be but a confusing tangle of myth
obstructing the differentiation between fact and tradition that so
often confronts the seeker after statements regarding the days of "lang
syne." And to those who thus "blazed the ways" grateful acknowledgment
has been made by all who have had to do with adding to the store of
historical knowledge relating to Rush county. Two names particularly
are mentioned in this connection two dominant figures are recalled,
those of Dr. John A. Arnold and the Hon. Elijah Hackleman. As the late
John F. Moses, in the preface to his admirable but all too brief
''Historical Sketch of Rush County," said in acknowledging his
indebtedness to these early writers: "They were eye-witness from the
beginning and a part of the events which their pens have so faithfully
and ably recorded. No one can ever write about Rush county history
without being greatly indebted to them." And in presenting this chapter
on the townships and towns of the county the present
compilers make similar grateful acknowledgment, particularly to the
notable work of Doctor Arnold, without whose illuminative
"Reminiscences" the list of pioneers of the respective townships of the
county would have been lost forever, or at best preserved in so
fragmentary a fashion as to be valueless for the definite purposes of a
volume of this character.
In preceding chapters considerable detailed attention has been given to
some of the incidents attending the settlement of the county in general
and a narrative also has been made of the organization and outline of
the several townships of the county. To these details the attention of
the reader is recalled in this connection, for the plan of this work so
correlates the several headings under which the history of the county
is presented as to make a faithful and comprehensive narrative when
taken as a composite. To the elder generation this correlation will be
instinctive; associations of recollection will supply the connection.
To the readers of the younger generation it will be no great mental
task to keep in mind the connecting incidents and dates essential to
the continuity of the work. Chronologically, the order of presentation
of the records of the several townships of the county may be
criticized, but it is believed that the presentation of these several
narratives in alphabetical order is preferable for the sake of
convenience to the reader, and in following this order the first
township to be given mention will be
Anderson Township
This township, in the southern
part of the county, was one of the first sections of the county to
secure the overflow of immigration which began to come this way after
the admission of the state to the Union in 1816 and at the time the
county became a separate civic entity in 1821 had a considerable
pioneer settlement. The township is at the southern border of the
county, bounded by Rushville township on the north, Richland on the
east, Decatur county on the
south and Orange township on the west.The town of Milroy, situated at
almost the exact geographical center of the township, is the center of
the township's commercial and social activities and the people are
energetic and progressive. Milroy, however, was not laid out as a town
until about ten years after the county had been organized and in the
meantime and even prior to county organization local business had been
carried on in other pioneer trading centers nearby, the first of these,
according to an older chronicle, having been a small store which was
opened by William Brown in a building he put up adjacent to Miller's
mill, at a point about a mile south of the present town of Milroy, this
mill having been the first grist mill erected in that section of the
county, a convenience for the pioneers thereabout for some years before
the organization of the county in 1821. It also is said that John
Julian, who was afterward a member of Rush county's first board of
county commissioners and an influential factor in the early doings of
the county, had carried on a considerable ''huckster" business
thereabout. There also was another neighborhood store, this having been
operated by Wilson Stewart in a little log house at a point a mile west
of the present town of Milroy. Nathan Tompkins presently erected a
tavern on Little Flat Rock adjacent to a mill which Gossett &
Miller had set up there, and Nathan Julian opened a store at the same
point, this industrial center becoming a nucleus around which other
settlers gathered, and in 1830 the town of Milroy was formally platted
and officially placed "on the map." In 1832 Thomas J. Larimore put up a
mill at that point, thus giving the place two mills, and Anderson
township thus early became widely recognized as a busy and
"going" community. Williamstown was a small village on the
Decatur county line in this township. Upon the advent of the Y. G L
& R. railroad, one-half mile east, this town began its decline, and
is now but a memory. Earl City was platted along the new railroad and
the post office was moved to the new town, retaining the name
"Williamstown."
Among the pioneer settlers of
Anderson township the names of the following have been preserved by the
older chronicles: Jesse Winship, James Tyler, Beverly Ward, Jacob
Hackleman, James Fordyce, John Cooper, William Earlywine, Eli J.
Elstun, Joseph Spurgeon, James Thompson, William Julian, Michael
Miller, James Logan, Adam and Daniel Conde, Lawrence Vanausdale,
William Beal, William Bell, John Enos, James W. Stewart, Hugh Stewart,
Daniel Thomas, William Hill, Nathan Tompkins, Jacob Hooten, William
Minton, Alexander Innis, Richard Harcourt, John and William J. Brown,
John Julian, Andrew Seright, Adam Richey, Jacob Whiteman, Ithamar P.
Root, John Mann, Aquilla Humes, Leonard Burton, David Witters, Capt.
William Rice, Capt. John Boyd, John Bell, Robert Bowles, William
Thomas, John Aldridge, William Duncan, George Somerville and Nathan
Harlan.
Milroy—It was on
November 3, 1830, that Nathan Tompkins and Nathan Julian, as noted
above, filed the plat of the town of Milroy, thus officially
identifying the village which was growing up around the tavern of the
former and the store of the latter. Other stores were beginning to
start up, the early merchants of the town being noted as having been
John Corbin, Harvey Hedrick, Seneca E. Smith, Richard Robbins, Samuel
Green, George B. Elstun, Reuben Johnson, John L. Robinson. Aaron
VanKirk, James Cox, Alexander & Thorne, Wesley Morrow, Alonzo and
Frank F. Swain, Joel F. Smith, John Barton and William Burton &
Son, Hugh C. Smith, who came from Cincinnati, was one of the early
tavern keepers. Robert Scott was Milroy's first doctor, and among other
early physicians in the place are mentioned: Doctors Barber, Reynolds,
Sharp, Robb, Bracken, Day, Russell, Tompkins, Innis, Thomas, Pollitt,
Riley and Rogers. When the railroad reached Milroy in 1881,
the village took "a new lease
on life," and has since enjoyed a steady and substantial growth, its
various commercial and industrial interests being well established.
When natural gas was "struck" in this county Milroy secured an ample
supply and still enjoys the use of this convenient fuel.
The first newspaper in Milroy was the Advertiser, established in 1882
by Charles F. Pollitt, who presently changed the name of the paper to
the Times, and continued to carry on his newspaper business until 1887,
when he sold the paper to George W. Rowe, who changed the name to the
News, under which name it continued until bought by F. C. Green, who
gave it the name of the Press, which it still bears, now under the
capable editorial direction of Dewey Hagen, the present owner of the
paper. Mr. Hagen also publishes the Laurel Review, which he owns, and
in addition to getting out these papers prints several school
publications. Milroy has .an excellent school building, built about
1907, as a consolidated township high school, in which a commissioned
high school course is taught, George J. Bugbee, principal. There are
three churches, the United Presbyterians, the Methodist Episcopalians
and the Christians being represented, and there are four lodges of
secret societies, the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and
Modern Woodmen being represented, each owning their own buildings. A
local post of the Grand Army of the Republic was actively maintained
for many years, but the dwindling number of the comrades of late years
has all but extinguished the post. To take the place of this venerated
patriotic body, however, there is a vigorous young post of the American
Legion, which will be prepared to take the lead in patriotic activities
formerly taken by the elder soldiers. The town has three physicians;
Dr. Will T. Lampton, Dr. E. L. Hume and Dr. C. S. Houghland; two
dentists, Dr. H. F. Thomas and Dr. A. C. Ross, and a veterinarian, Dr.
J. S. Francis. The First National Bank and the Milroy Bank offer admirable
exchange facilities to the community. The flour mill, operated by the
Milroy Milling Company, has a capacity of better than two hundred
barrels a day, and the grain elevator operated by W. M. Bosley, offers
a local market for grain. A transmission line of wires from the I.
& C. Traction Company's power house at Rushville, carries
electricity for lighting purposes. There is a hotel, the Milroy Hotel.
Schlosser Bros, conduct a local cream station; the Allen A. Wilkinson
Lumber Co. operates a lumber yard, and the Milroy Stock Co. offers a
market for live stock. Other business in the town is represented as
follows: General store, W. S. Mansfield; hardware, W. S. Mercer, W. L.
McKee & Son; grocers, C. H. Harton, Tompkins Bros., W. A. Aldridge;
drugs, Norman Harcourt, Sheppard's drug store; jewelry, E. F. Starks;
millinery, Betty Wilson; automobiles, Milroy Motor Sales Co.; garages,
F. O. Hillis, Goldia H. Carr; harness shop, Charles Stewart; poolroom
and barber shop, Harry Richey; blacksmiths, Francis, Turner &
Brooks and Marion Tague. Milroy has ever since along in the '80s made
much of its annual Chautauqua meetings and the presence of a
flourishing Chautauqua circle, which has done much in the way of social
and cultural promotion in that community, the influence of which has
been reflected throughout that whole region.
Center Township
This township's situation in
the northern tier of townships of the county did not attract any
considerable number of settlers for several years after the general
settlement of the southern part of the county had well set in and it
was not until 1823 or later that there were suffi-cient numbers of
settlers there to begin to regard themselves as a. neighborhood. Center
township is bounded on the north by Henry county, on the east by
Washing-ton township, on the south by Jackson and Union town-ships, and
on the west by Ripley township. It is traversed by Little Blue river, which rises in
the northeast corner of the township, and by Three-Mile creek,
admirable natural drainage thus being afforded. It is said that the
first physician in the township was Dr. Robert Moffett, after whose
death his widow married Dr. Abner Dillon, who continued the practice.
Alfred Reeves established the first store in the township and John
Waggoner was the first blacksmith. The state Soldiers' and Sailors'
Orphans' Home, proper mention of which is made elsewhere in this
volume, is situated in the northwestern corner of Center township. It
was not until the coming of the railroad in the early '80s that Center
township had established trading points, local trade having prior to
that time gone to Knightstown, just over the line in the neighboring
county of Henry, and to Carthage, the business center of Ripley
township, but with the building of the railroad north and south through
the eastern part of the township two railway stations were established,
that of Hamilton (now called Sexton) on the border line between Center
and Jackson townships, and Mays, in section 17, both of which at once
became convenient shipping and commercial points.
In the considerable list of
pioneers of Center township that has been preserved by the older
chronicles appear the names of William, Robert and John Huddleston,
David Price, John James, Robert Hamilton, Robert. John and Joseph Knox,
Hiram Bitner, William, Samuel and John Shields, John Bell, David
McBride. Moses Clifford, John Ruby, George Heffner, John Reddick,
George Brown, George and Abraham Rhodes, George Appel, Zachariah
Sparks, Aaron and John Purcell, William McBride, John Brooks, William
Bell, Jabez and Ila Reeves, William James, James Ewing, William
Kirkpatrick, Peter Siler, Cordil Dimmick, George Grandstaff, William
Baker, Asa Blanchard, Asa Reeves, Levi James, Joshua Florea, Burrell
Akers. Thomas Craft, Thomas Brooks, Joseph and Samuel Barrett, Jesse
Garten, Jacob Ruby, John
Walker, John Mallis, John Brown, James Oldham, John Peters, Robert
Brooks, Jacob Shiveley, John Waggoner, Joshua Sparks, Dr. Abner Dillon,
Al-fred Reeves, Samuel Huddleson, James Cochran, Samuel Maze, James and
Samuel Young, James Gray, James Johnson, David Sutton, Thomas Atkins,
Leroy Pugh. Daniel Bayliss, Thomas C. Stewart, Nelson Sisson, Jacob
Cooper, Jonathan Kirkham, John Somerville, Jacob Buck, John R. McBride,
James Pinkerton, Arthur Boyd, Leroy Scott, William Reeves, Samuel
Kirkpatriek, James Henry, Bailey Pendergrast, Alexander Sears, Benjamin
Pritchard, James English, Linden Addison, Jonathan Hulley.
Mays—This
pleasant village in section 17 of Center township was established with
the opening of the railroad through that part of the county, and was
laid out as a town by Samuel Kirkpatriek and Charles H. Thrawley, March
25, 1884. The present population of the village is about 250, and it is
the center of trade for a considerable area thereabout. The village has
a bank, an elevator, a sawmill and the usual complement of stores. It
has an excellent school and two churches, the United Presbyterian and
the Christian.
Jackson Township
On account of a heavy
percentage of swamp land in Jackson township in the days of the
settlement of this county, the population of the township was a little
backward, but with the digging of drainage ditches to help out sluggish
little Mud creek, the natural but inefficient outlet for the swamp,
these swamp lands were reclaimed, opening the way to settlement and
this reclaimed land is now among the most valuable in the county. In
the old days the dreaded Burr Oak swamp was considered well nigh
irreclaimable, but with drainage it was turned into fine farm land.
Jackson township is bounded on the north by Center township, on the
east by Union, on the south by
Rushville township and on the west by Posey township. The Little Blue
river crosses the northwest corner of the township. Henderson is the
only hamlet in the township. It is situated on the Big Four railroad,
in section 10, and was platted by Ida M. Henderson, August 1, 1890. Its
conveniences as a railway station and as a local trading point were
welcomed by the people of the neighborhood. The first store opened in
the township in the early days was that of Jones & Parker, in the
once locally famous, but long since abandoned hamlet of "Tail Holt,"
later called Occident, which was a postoffice for a number of years.
Sexton—This
hamlet was laid out as a town site on May 25,1883, following the
completion of the New Castle & Rushville railroad, since taken over
by the Lake Erie & Western. The name of the platted town as
recorded is Hamilton Station. When the postoffice was established it
became necessary to rename the town on account of another town of the
name of Hamilton in Indiana, and the postoffice was named Sexton, by
which name the village generally is known. The first house in the
hamlet was built by Mathias Knecht.
Following are some of the names that
are associated with the days of the settlement of the township: Thomas
Burton, John Souders, John Bowne, John Castle, Jacob and William David,
William Truitt, Shipman Newkirk, Jacob Gobel, William Kirkpatrick,
Samuel and Isaac Newhouse, William Jones, Elijah Billings, Stephen
Sparks, James Jones, Robert Berry, Elder William Caldwell, Thomas
McKinnon, Philip Barger, Daniel Gorman, William and Nathan Porter,
Harmon Osborne, John Smelcer, George Winship, David Gilson, William
0'Banion, James Oldham, William Bodine, James Downey, William Moffett,
Brook Talbott, Aaron Mock, George Kirkpatrick, Azahel Griffith, James
Fry, William Beale, Sr., Benjamin Kendall, John Newhouse, Solomon
Steph¬ens, William Armstrong, David Kenning, Washington Barger,
Isaac Ploughe, Jonathan Fleener.
Noble Township
There is a pretty strong
presumption of truth in the statement long maintained that the first
permanent settlement in Rush county was effected in that section of the
county which became organized as Noble township, as now located, the
character of the lands lying along the several tributaries of the
Little Flat Rock, which has its headwaters in this township, having
proved attractive to prospective settlers seeking overflow from the
earlier settled counties of Fayette and Franklin on the east. The honor
of having been the first settler is thus given to Isaac Williams, who
is reported to have put up, in September, 1819, a cabin on what
afterward became the Andrew Guff in farm, but Elijah Hackleman's
reminiscences have it that the first to settle in the Little Flat Rock
neighborhood was Enoch Russell, who settled there in March of that same
year. The old Williams cabin is still standing, a part of an old barn
on the Guff in farm. Early in the spring of the next year William
Merryman put up a cabin on the farm, which afterward became the home of
Benjamin F. Reeve. These early arrivals of course were "squatters," for
the land here was not opened for legal entry until in the fall of 1820.
After the first land sale settlement was effected rapidly and Noble
township became one of the most populous sections of the county at an
early date. Perhaps what may be regarded as the first commercial
enterprise carried on in Rush county was the store of Conrad Sailor, in
that section which became organized as Noble township. As has been
noted heretofore. Sailor was the agent appointed by the legislature to
organize Rush county upon the passage of the enabling act in December,
1821. He had represented Franklin county in the first state legislature
which met at Corydon, and was active in the public affairs of the
pioneer community which began to develop in the new lands west of that
county, not only carrying on the business of his little pioneer store
and taking an influential part in politics, but being accounted a
leader in the work of the Baptist church hereabout.
Noble township is not quite a
true "congressional" township, half of sections 3 and 10 being cut off
to help form the eastern "jog" in Rushville township, reference to
which has been made in an earlier chapter. The township is bounded on
the north by Union township, on the east by Fayette county, on the
south, by Richland town-ship and on the west by Rushville township and
section 33 of Anderson township. It is well drained by Little Flat Rock
river and the headwater tributaries of the same. There is no railroad
in the township and there is but one hamlet, New Salem. The first mill
in the township was put up by William Robinson and not long afterward
Jehu Perkins put up a mill on Pleasant Run. Jehu Perkins, one of the
three original county commissioners of Rush county, was the father of
twenty-one children, one of whom, a son, Jehu Perkins, Jr., commonly
known as "Boss," is credited with having been the first white child
born in the present confines of the county. Benjamin F. Reeve, the
pioneer school teacher in Noble township, served this district in both
the upper and lower houses of the state legislature and also served for
many years as justice of the peace in and for his home township. John
P. Thompson organized a Christian church in Noble township in 1830,
this church being said to have been the first formal organization of
the Disciples of Christ in Indiana, Among those mentioned as having been the
founders of Noble township were the following: John Hawkins, Abraham
Hackleman, Conrad Sailors, Henry Lines, Col. John Tyner, Isaac
Patterson, Edward Patterson, Jacob Sailors, Elder John Blades, Jehu
Perkins, Benjamin Sailors, Jesse Winship, Thomas P. Lewis, Doctor
Kipper, John Gregg, Isaac Stephens, Jacob Starr, John Pogue, James
Logan, Aaron Lines, John Laforge, John Beaver, Peter
Looney, Henry Myers, Lewis Smith, George Taylor, Aaron Wellman, Solomon
Bowen, Elias Posten, Robert Stewart, John McKee, James Wiley, James J.
Armstrong, John P. Tompkins, Stephen Lewis and Joseph J. Amos.
New Salem—This,
as has been noted above, is the only hamlet in Noble township, and has
a population of around 250. The first settler within the limits of what
is now the village was Moses Thompson, who put up a cabin there in the
early '20s, he being followed shortly afterward by Doctor Anthony, who
thus became one of the real pioneer physicians of the county. Then came
Reuben Runyon, who set up a blacksmith shop, and Israel Knapp with a
wagon shop, these essential pioneer industries becoming the nucleus
around which gathered the present village. Among the early merchants
mention is made of Thomas J. Larimore, Jameson & Salla, Robinson
& Miller, Richardson & Marsh and George and Andrew Guff in. Two
mills formerly operated in the village, but one was moved to Rushville
and the other was destroyed by a tornado. The town was formally platted
by Moses Thompson in February, 1831. Besides the two or three stores
essential to the immediate commercial needs of the neighborhood New
Salem has a bank, the New Salem Bank, an excellent school and two
churches, both the Methodist Episcopal and the Methodist Protestant
being represented there, each having substantial church buildings. A
grain elevator was erected at New Salem a few years ago by a Brookville
grain man in expectation of the village becoming a rail shipping point
when the right of way through there was secured by the I. & C.
Traction Company, but the hope of the villagers to have a rail outlet
has not yet materialized. In the old days before railroads came to the
county New Salem was noted as a stop¬ping point for cattle drovers
who would be driving their stock to market at Cincinnati. Its present
commercial interests are represented by Jehu Perkins, general store;
Roy Murphy & Son, grocers; Carl W. Dausch, grocer; William Dausch, butcher, and Clarence
Maple and Edward Gwinnup, blacksmiths.
Orange Township
This township in the
southwestern corner of the county is a "square" township of thirty-six
sections, and is bounded on the north by Walker township, on the east
by Anderson township, on the south by Decatur county and on the west by
Shelby county. It is perhaps the most rugged section of the county
topographically, the surface being much broken by numerous streams and
hills. Big Flat Rock traverses it, entering in section 4, near the
northeast comer, and flowing out in section 29, besides which Little
Hurricane and Big Mill creeks and two or three other small streams
afford ample drainage. Moscow, a village of about one hundred
population, in the southeast quarter of section 18, and (rowdy, a
cross-roads hamlet in section 1, are the trading centers. Moscow was
surveyed by W. B. Laughlin for John Woods, who filed the plat for
record May 1, 1830. The township has no railroad, but has excellent
highways, as have all parts of the county. Limestone of a good quality
for building crops out in the vicinity of Moscow, and quarries have
been profitably worked in the past. According to Doctor Arnold's
narrative, Moscow in the early days "possessed a reputation far from
enviable; in fact, it was famous for lawlessness and ruffianism, but
now it is a quiet, orderly village." The village of Moscow dates back
to 1822 when John Woods and David Querry built a mill on Big Flat Rock
at that point. Nathan Julian presently opened a store at the milling
point, which thus became the center of the community, and the village
had expanded to such a point in the spring of 1830 that John Woods
employed - Doctor Laughlin, the pioneer surveyor, to plat the place and
get it "on the map." Other early merchants were A. Musselman, John T.
Drummond, O'Brien Gwynne and R. H. Johnson, the latter of whom
had a partner at
Brookville. John Woods, mentioned above, also operated a distillery, as
did Joseph Owens, and it is said these were quite liberally patronized,
this fact probably accounting for the "unenviable reputation" borne by
the place in the pioneer days, to which reference has been made above.
The first tavern was conducted by one Hays and Samuel Harney presently
put up another tavern which became quite noted in its way in its day.
An organized band of horsethieves operated in the Moscow neighborhood
many years ago, making their rendezvous there a distributing point for
their plunder.
Bearing on conditions in and
about Moscow in an earlier day, the following under the head of "Letter
from Moscow," published in a county seat paper in 1872, is informative:
"Orange township is called the dark corner of Rush county. Somehow our
township has never taken the stand in education, religion or enterprise
that has been accorded to some other parts of our county. Moscow is the
seat of government for this region. It is little and lifeless, and is
no larger than it was twenty years ago, and has only a sad prospect for
the future. Once a week the mail comes and the outer world is heard
from. Saturdays are great days in our capital, because then we get the
mail and all the surrounding country conies in to get the news." That
was fifty years ago, and happily, a great change has been made in
community conditions during the half-century that has elapsed since
then. Ten years ago a consolidated township school was erected at
Moscow at a cost of $30,000, and the influence of that school on the
community has been a transforming one, indeed. The community has been
drawn more closely together by the daily associations of the children
in a common motive and in other ways conditions have been bettered. R.
H. Glenn, who has been associated with the school almost ever since it
was established, is now principal of the same, and is extending the
work, the plan now being to erect an addition to the
building. It is a matter of note that the longest wooden bridge in
the state spans Big Flat Rock at Moscow. Though social conditions at
Moscow have been wonderfully improved since the days referred to above
bv the older chronicle, the town has not grown in size and is but a
typical rural hamlet, one store, that of Barlow Bros., being sufficient
to supply the commercial needs of the community. The old mill that has
stood there along the river bank for near a century, was recentlv sold
out and has been abandoned. The one church in the village, that of the
Christian denomination has been established for many years, but the
congregation is worshiping in a handsome new edifice erected within the
past few years, the pastor, the Reverend Mr. Selig, of Butler College,
coming once a fortnight to minister to the congregation. The complaint
uttered by the plaintive writer of the "Letter From Moscow" above
noted, that mail reached the village but once a week lost its force
when rural free mail delivery was established throughout the county and
daily mail brought to the doors of the farmers and villagers now keeps
them fully informed. Certainly Orange township no longer can be "called
the dark corner of Rush county." The township school and the daily
newspapers forbid.
Among the pioneers of Orange township
whose names have been preserved by the older chronicles were George
Shoppelle. Richard Shaw, Israel Hewitt, Joseph Owens, John Woods,
Nathan Allison, John Machlan, Absalom Milligan, Robert Hungerford,
William, John and Henry McCarty, John Waggoner, Robert McDuff y, John
Mullens, Robert Bowling, Thomas Wilson, Michael Bzekial, Josiah Kelly,
Jesse Barlow, Jesse M. Barlow, John Little, Jerome Buffingham, Abraham
Rhue, Benjamin Moore, Daniel Querry, David, Joseph and Nathan Frakes,
Uriah and Reuben Farlow, Millikin Owens, John Selby, Harm Farlow,
Richard Hungerford, John Hewitt, Isaac Conde, Andrew Stiers, Nathan
Aldridge, William Dodson, Elias Hilligoss, Matthew Allison, Absalom
Slifer, Thomas Prill, John Griffith, Josiah Bishop, Daniel Tevis,
Robert Waggoner, David Alter, Alexander Simpson, Sr., and Peter, Aris
and Milton Waggoner.
Posey Township
This is another of the
"square" townships of the county, being made up of thirty-six sections,
and lies on the western edge of the county, being bounded on the north
by Ripley township, on the east by Jackson and Rushville townships, on
the south by Walker township and on the west by Shelby county.
Arlington, a thriving station on the old C. H., & D. railroad, now
known as the C. I., & W., is the only village in the township. The
township is traversed by Little Blue river and by North Fork, Meadow
and Mud creeks and one or two other small streams. These are sluggish
streams, however, and the generally flat character of the surface has
necessitated considerable ditching.
Settlement in Posey township
began about the year 1822, and it was not long until all the land in
the township was taken by original entry. Levin Birt, who laid out the
town plat of Burlington (present Arlington) about the year 1830, opened
the first store in the township and also is referred to as having been
the first school teacher there. A second store was opened by Carr,
Wooster & Co., and the first physician was Dr. Erastus Russell. The
coming of the railroad through the township not only afforded a rail
shipping point conveniently accessible to all parts of the township,
but gave an impetus to development along other lines and what had
before that time been regarded as a somewhat "backward" township
stepped up into the front rank and has remained there. The later coming
of the trolley cars also was a valuable contributing factor in the
township's progress, as it has been of all townships touched by this
convenient mode of transportation.
The older chronicles carry
quite a list of the names of
the early settlers of this township, among which are noted Rev. James
Havens, Adam M. C. Gowdy, Jefferson Arnett, William Davis, Hiram R.
Tribbey, Recompense Murphy, Levin Birt, Obed Meredith, Garland B.,
George and William Allender, James Eaton, John Alsman, William Collins,
John Jordan, John Spencer, Samuel Gordon, George Moore, Thomas Gruell,
John Stapleton, William Drysdale, George Hamil, John Moore, Sabert
Offutt, Jonathan Ball, Henry Ball, John McMichael, Jesse Leon¬ard,
Hezelriah Clark, Capt. Christian Nelson, Henry Bogue,
Wiley Bogue, Jesse Morgan, William McHatton, James Allender, Eli
Claville, Jesse McDaniel, James Walker, Morgan and Ransom Baity, Drury
Holt, James Junken, John Junken, Alexander Woods, Thomas Heaton, Obed
Worth, Obed Swain, Jesse Adams, Archibald Kennedy, Lewis Bravard, Henry
Beckner, Jacob Beckner, Sr., James Smith, Caleb Doudge, Daniel Bebout,
Jesse Kellum, Hugh S. Fleehart, Rev. Gabriel McDuffie, William Brun,
Thomas Swain, Peter Sapp, Wright Smith, Richard Rutter, Wright
Donnelly, Samuel Swin-hart, Nimrod Adams and George W. Leisure.
Uncle Jeff Arnett was the first justice of the peace in the
community. He was also postmaster, the profits of the
office amounting to about $1 a quarter. Mr. Arnett also was
proprietor of a tannery, which offered a local market for hides. The
first physician was Doctor Clark, and it is said that the first church
building erected in the village was a structure twelve by fourteen feet
put up by the pioneer Langden, who had settled there in 1824.
Arlington—The
town of Arlington in sections 19 and 24 of Posey township is a pleasant
village of about 450 population. It was platted by Levin Birt and James
Collins in April, 1832, and was given the name of Burlington, but
presently was changed to Beech Grove, its first post-office name, on
account of another post off ice of the name of Burlington in the state.
This name later was changed to Arlington and so remains.
Additions to the original plat
have been made by Fletcher Tevis, C. C. Lee and James W. Green. Levin
Birt, founder of the town, men-tioned above as the first merchant and
schoolteacher, also operated a carding mill in the early days of the
town, the site of the mill having been on the present site of the
Christian church, and later added a corn mill. Joseph Hamilton also was
an early merchant; Peter Sapp was the village blacksmith; Jefferson
Arnett carried on a tannery and Robert Ford had a harness shop.
Business since those days has developed until now all essential lines
are represented. The town has a commissioned high school and two live
churches, the Christian and the Methodist Episcopal. The Arlington Bank
offers an admirable medium for local exchange and Hutchinson &
Son's grain elevator affords convenient facilities for marketing the
products of the farm. Fred Woods, the postmaster, has a grocery store,
and other mercantile lines are represented as follows: D. M. Baldridge,
hardware and implements; Perry Reddick, general store; J. M. Eaton,
general store; C. F. Cline, grocer; C. M. Kuhn, grocery and restaurant;
Stella M. Davis, drugs; Charles L. Stout, restaurant: Lee Silvers,
vulcanizing and motor accessories ; O. F. Downey, garage; W, T.
Newhouse, W. B. Hinton and L. Snider, blacksmiths, and two poolrooms.
There are two physicians in the village, Dr. A. Gr. Shauck and Dr. Fred
H. Finlaw. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is represented by a
subordinate lodge, a lodge of the Daughters of Rebekah and the
encampment and the Improved Order of Red Men has a lodge and the
auxil-iary Daughters of Pocahontas. Arlington has the oldest brass band
in the county, the same having been a continu¬ous organization for
more than twenty-five years, now under the leadership of C. Earl Downey.
Richland Township
This township, situated in the
southeast corner of the county, is a township of thirty sections, and
is bounded on the north by
Noble township, on the east by Franklin county, on the south by Decatur
county, on the west by Anderson township. It is well drained, Clif ty
creek making a loop in the south central portion of the township, the
North Fork of Clifty traversing the northwest section and Salt creek
and Bull Fork creek draining the eastern section. By reason of its
situation with respect to the older counties to the east and south
Richland was one of the first centers of population in Rush county, a
settlement having been effected on Clifty creek in this township as
early as 1820, George Brown, Jesse Morgan, James Henderson, John Ray,
John Ewick, Joel Craig and James and John Gregg having located there in
that year. Jacob Fisher came in the following year, and in 1822 and
1823 quite a number of other families had located thereabout, making
quite a settlement in the Richland neighborhood. Joel Craig started a
store at the cross roads dividing sections 10 and 15 for the
accommodation of the pioneer settlers and around this trading center
the village of Richland grew up. Larrimore & Eyestone, afterward
Eyestone & Hackleman, opened the second store, and in 1824 Harvey
Bros, also started a store. Jesse Morgan, who later represented this
district in both houses of the state legislature, was the first
just¬ice of the peace. His brother, Jonah Morgan, was a pioneer
schoolteacher and Methodist j)reacher. The Hopewell Methodist church,
organized by the Greggs in this township in 1821, is commonly regarded
as having been the first formal church organization in Rush county. It
is noted that Lorenzo Dow in his itinerary through this section of
Indiana preached to the pioneers in the Hope-well grove. The first
white child born in the township was Hannah, daughter of Jacob Fisher,
whose birth oc-curred in September, 1821. The first marriage, in that
same year, was that of Jonathan Richeson and Ann Wheeler. It is well to
note that this pioneer couple raised thirteen children, an evidence, as
an older chronicle notes, of their "good citizenship." The first
teacher was Mr. Ricker, who conducted a pioneer school in a cabin in
the Richland neighborhood. Doctor Bradshaw was the first physician and
he was followed by Doctors Bracken and Howland. The presence in this
township in the old days of Richland Academy gave an impetus to the
cause of education in that community which was reflected throughout
this whole region.
Among the pioneers of this township may be noted the names of Jesse
Morgan, George Brown, James Hen-derson, John Ray, John Ewick, Joel
Craig, John and James Gregg, Jacob Fisher, John Stewart, Abraham Bever,
Joseph Washburn, Peter and Joseph Miller, Charles Robinson, Charles and
Archibald Miller, John Cook and John "Walker.
Richland—Though
this village, as noted above, had been a trading point since the day of the
beginning of a settlement in
Richland township, it was not formally platted until in 1854 when A. P. Butler
and others "laid out" the
town, the original plat consisting of sixteen lots. When the railroad came to Milroy, about
four miles to the west, that
village became the natural center of trade for that region and Riehland's commercial
development went into a
decline from which it never recovered, a further decline ensuing when the
postoffice was taken away,
mail being brought by rural delivery from Milroy. Richland has a population of about
150. The Methodist
Episcopal church is the only one there, but there formerly
was a congregation of United
Presbyterians, the old
Richland Academy having been conducted under their auspices, but they gradually were
absorbed by other
communions. The United Brethren have a church in the southeast part of the
township. When it first became a community center this village was known
as Harvey's
Corners. Later it took the higher sounding name of Palmyra and it was not until the '70s
that it became known as
Richland. There are two stores at Richland, Messrs. Lusk and Hawkins being the
merchants.
Ripley Township
This township is situated in
the northwest corner of Rush county and is bounded on the north by
Henrv county and two sections of Hancock county, on the east by Center
township, on the south by Posey township and on the west by Hancock
county. Carthage, a town of about 900 population on the Big Four
railroad, near the center of the township, is the trading center and
has been so from the beginning, the Quaker settlement which sprang up
on the Big Blue at that point in pioneer days having maintained its
dominance as a social and commercial center. Farmers, a station on the
Big Four in section 33, is a trading point in the southeast corner of
the township. Ripley township is well drained, being traversed from the
northeast corner to the southwest corner by Big Blue river, which gave
power to the mills in pioneer days. Six Mile creek drains the western
portion of the township and Three Mile creek enters Big Blue in the
northeastern portion.
The first permanent settlement
in the township was made by a colony of Quakers from North Carolina,
who settled there in 1821. Even before the lands were opened by the
Government for sale Joseph Henley, Samuel Hill and a party had come out
here into the wilderness from North Carolina to "spy out the land" and
had selected lands along the Big Blue in the vicinity of where Carthage
later came to be laid out. At the land sale Robert Hill, son of Samuel
Hill and brother-in-law of Joseph Henley, acting as agent for the
colony, purchased the tract and in 1821 several families settled,
including those of Thomas, Jonathan and Nathan Hill, brothers of Robert
Hill; Andrew Thorp, Dayton Hollo way, Benjamin Snyder, William Wilson,
Pearson Lacy, Benjamin Cox and Nathan White. In the next year others
came and by 1825 there was a quite numerous settlement in the rich
lands of the township. The first birth of a white child in the township was in the family of Nathan
Hill in 1822 and the first marriage in the township was that of
"William Binford and Mary Jessup. It was not long after their arrival
on the scene before the colony of Friends had a log meeting house
erected on Walnut Ridge and in this pioneer meeting house the first
school was conducted, Nathan Hill being the teacher. Robert Hill opened
the first store and this early commercial center became the nucleus
around which Carthage grew up. Robert Hill, who had acted as the agent
for the colony in the purchase of their lands, also was the first
miller and was an active factor in the development of the community.
The first blacksmith was Dayton Holloway, who some years later also
started a mill. Until the coming of the Shelbyville & Knightstown
railroad in 1848 the development of the community was about that of the
normal rural com¬munity, but when the railroad gave Carthage a
proper outlet it began to expand and has ever since been the second
town in point of population in the county. Among others besides those
above mentioned who were classed as pioneers of Ripley township were
John Addison, John Walker, William James, Samuel Moore, Isaac Tullis,
Henry and Thomas Henley, Reuben Bentley, Nathan Pettijohn, Luke Newsom,
Jonathan Pierson, Jonathan Phelps, John Dawson, Jacob Siler, John
Reddick. Sarah Commons, Hannah Earnest, Thomas Draper, Henry Newby,
Thomas Cogshall, Lindsey Hearkless, Elias Hen¬ley, Stephen Bentley,
John Gates, Mahlon Hockett, Abraham Small, Thomas Thornburg, Joel Pusey
and William Johnson.
Carthage—In
point of size and business importance Carthage is second only to
Rushville as a commercial center in Rush county. It is beautifully
situated on the banks of Big Blue river about the center of the
township and is an important shipping point on the Big Four railroad.
The big plant of the American Paper Products Company at this place is
regarded as one of the most
extensive industrial concerns in Rush county and employs about 150
persons. Though Carthage had been established as a trading point in the
early 20s as noted above, when Robert Hill opened his little store
there, it was not officially recognized on the map until August
18,1834, when John Clark and Henry Henley filed a plat of the village.
This plat which was laid out in the north-east corner of the northwest
quarter of section 19, township 15, range 9 east, comprised thirty-two
lots, sixteen on each side of Main street, the cross streets being
named First, Second and Third. Five or six additions have since been
made to this original plat and the town now has a population in excess
of 900 and is substantially built. Natural gas is provided by the
Carthage Natural Gas Company, William Bundy, president, and light is
provided by local electric light plant of which F. F. Brennan is the
proprietor, he getting his power from the paper mill. The Carthage Bank
and the Carthage Building and Loan Association are important commercial
factors in the town, while the grain elevator operated by the Hill
Grain and Coal Company offers a market for the local cereal crops. Otto
O. Griffin, who was commissioned in 1918, succeeding the late L. B.
McCarty, is the postmaster. The township commissioned high school is
one of the handsomest school buildings in this part of the state and is
ample in equipment for the needs of the town's public schools. There
also is a school for colored children, called the Booker T. Washington
school. The considerable colored population in and about Carthage is
descended from the families brought there in the days before the Civil
war by means of the "underground railroad," a station of which was
maintained by the Friends in that vicinity. There are also two colored
churches, one for the Methodists and one for the Christians. The other
churches are those of the Friends, of which the Rev. A. J. Furstenberg
is the pastor; the Fletcher Methodist Episcopal, Rev. Arthur Jean,
pastor; the Wesleyan Methodist. Rev. H. T. Hawkins, pastor, and the
Christian, Rev. Sumner, pastor. The very attractive Henley Memorial
Library erected in 1902 is an admirable social center for the
community. It was constructed by volunteer contri¬butions of public
spirited citizens. Henry Henley, one of the founders of Carthage, moved
by a desire to benefit the people of that community, gave $1,000 to
establish a free public library. This gift was added to by private
persons, the W. C. T. U., the Carthage Monthly Meeting of Friends and
by a small tax authorized by law. A board of directors was appointed,
composed of W. P. Henley, J. M. Stone, N. C. Binford, Levi Binford, J.
F. Publow, Eunice H. Dunn and Luzena Thornburg, and an organization
effected under the law. For some time a room in the Carthage Bank
building was used, but the de¬mand for more books and more room led
to an effort to supply both. The children of Henry Henley gave $2,000
to the building fund, other subseriptons were made and the additional
sum required was raised by taxation. As a result the present beautiful
building was erected at a cost of $6,500.
The library is well maintained
and is patronized by the whole township. The town is well represented
abroad by its weekly newspaper, the Citizen, C. G. Hill, editor and
proprietor. The Freemasons and the Odd Fellows have lodges at Carthage
and there is a dwindling post of the Grand Army of the Republic and a
vigorous post of the American Legion. The Auditorium theater, J. F.
Tweedy, manager, offers the community a place of entertainment. Hotels
are conducted by Mrs. H. G. Rolls and Mrs* Elmira Smith, while J. F.
Kennedy and C. E. Rhoades have restaurants. Other business in the town
is represented as follows: Grocers, Hungate Wholesale Company, A. W.
Winfield. Phelps Bros., T. E. Cooper; dry goods, F. J. Sims, F. B.
Yankuner; hard-ware, C. E. White & Son, Sharer & Moore; music
and musical instruments, Gates Music Company; tailor, J. A. Lineback; drugs. O. C. McCarty; barbers,
Peacock & Kyser, George F. Winslow; garages, H. T. Beher, Ralph
Lindamood; blacksmiths, James Carfield, William Shaffer; feed store, R.
C. Hill; shoemakers, W. A. Minor, William Snyder; bakery, T. J.
Passwater; poolroom, Parish Bros.; sawmill, R. T. Moore; canning
factory, the DeSehipper Canning Company, John DeSchipper, manager. The
industries of Carthage began about the time Robert Hill put up his
store there back in pioneer days, this pioneer's second enterprise
being the erection of a sawmill to which plant he presently added a
gristmill. The next merchants were Eli and Joseph Stratton, Hill &
Henley, L. & F. Hill, Jabez Henley and Jason Williams. Among the
early mechanics were John Sears and Isaac Nelson, blacksmiths, and
George W. Pearce, wagon maker. Formerly the town supported a busy
planing mill which was operated by Hiram and Jesse Henley, Theodore
Moore had a sawmill, Charles Moore a cement block factory and John Dana
a cannery. Cox & Cox's flour mill was a busy institution in its day
and Charles R. Butler had a machine shop.
Rushville Township
This is the central township
of the county and con-tains the county seat. As it was properly
surmised that the county seat would be located somewhere near the
center of the county there was considerable settlement here even before
the commissioners acting for the state decided on the location of a
county seat, and its develop¬ment from the beginning has kept pace
with Rushville, the county's chief city. Rushville township is bounded
on the north by Jackson township and one-half section of Union
township, on the east by Union and Noble townships, on the south by
Anderson township and on the west by Walker township and two sections
of Posey township. It is well drained, Big Flat Rock river entering the
township in the northeast corner and flowing out in the southwest corner, while Ben Davis creek
and other small tributaries afford additional natural
drainage. It is said that Dr. Marshall Sexton, son of Dr.
Horatio Sexton, was the first white child born in the
township. That was in 1822. The first miller was W. B.
Laughlin, the surveyor who cast in his lot with this community after
completing the Government survey hereabout. He also was the
first school teacher and in other ways impressed himself upon the
community in its "day of small things." As the general
history of Rushville township follows so closely that of the town of
Rushville the reader is referred for further details in this connection
to the chapter relating to the county seat elsewhere in this volume,
though it will be proper here to give the names of those who are
mentioned as among the first settlers of the township and most of whom
located outside the town of Rushville, among these being Henry
Thornbury, John Hale, David Morris, John
Oldham, Joseph and Henry Nichols,
Stephen Sims, Thomas and Benjamin Lakin, Ewell
Kindall, Robert English, David McHatton, Charles Elias Poston, Elijah
Hefflin, Samuel Allenthrope, William Junken, Sullivan S. Ross,
Christian Clymer, Houston Morris, James Walker, Lot Green, George
Guffin, William and Wesley Moffett, Daniel Smith, Rutherford J. Boyd,
Amaziah and Alamander Fowler, Reuben Roland, McCormick Zion, David
Fleener, Elijah Lewark, Henry Webster, Gustavus Cowger, Ivan Fleener,
William Cald-well, William Lochridge, John Cavitt, John, James,
Will¬iam and Michael Lower, Richard Thornbury, William Dill, James
Davis, Amariah Sutton, George Mull, Thomas Stewart, Cuthbert Webb,
Fielding and Isaac B. Jones, John Parsons, Andrew Gilson, Artemus
Moore, David Crawford, John Asher, Pressley Moore, John Phillips, Weir
Cassady, Silas, John T. and William T. Hilligoss, Isaac Carr, Benjamin
Sampson, Samuel Jackson, Robert Gardner, Sampson Cassady, Thomas
Cassady, Sr., James Havens, William Newell,
James McManus, ThomasMcCarty, John Oliver, Sr., James
Anderson, Jonathan Boyce and Jacob Minx.
Union Township
In this township, in section
25, along Ben Davis creek where "Arnold's Home" later came to be
established, the Indians under the leadership of old Chief Mahoning
(whom the whites when they came called Ben Davis) had their village
long before white settlers began to invade the rich hunting grounds of
the aboriginals hereabout. Even before the treaty which caused the
Indians to be moved from their lands here several white men had settled
in this section. They occupied themselves hunting and trapping and were
on friendly relations with the Indians. Among these was Henry Sadorus,
who had a cabin where the Indian trail crossed Big Flat Rock river, the
point where John Smelser erected the mill which gave the name of
Smelser's Mills to the point after 1822. Samuel Gruell put up a cabin
on Ben Davis creek in the vicinity of the Indian village, now "Arnold's
Home," and Weir Cassady settled on what later came to be known as the
Joseph Hinchman farm, and there were no doubt other trappers and
hunters as well as a few '' squatters'' who were awaiting their
opportunity to claim -title when the land was thrown open to sale, so
that as early as 1819 there were found quite a number of white men on
the ground. When the land sale was opened there was a rush for the
lands west of the older counties of Fayette and Franklin and general
settlement of the township was not long delayed. John Arnold, Raus Byrd
Green, Thos. Sargeant and John Houghton bought land in this township on
the first day of the land sale in October, 1820, and among those who
came not long afterward are mentioned John Horlock, Amaziah Morgan,
George and Michael Hittle, Samuel Danner, John McMillen, Wils Buzan,
Samuel Newhouse, John Nash, John and Richard Blacklidge, George Nipp,
Isaac Arnold, Jacob Virgil,
Elisha Clark and Edward Swanson (afterward the mur-derer of Elisha
Clark, as set out elsewhere), Peter Shaffer, George and Matthew Zion,
John Clifford, Samuel Dur-bon, John Morris, Obediah Seward, Philip and
Richard Richee, Isaac Sparks, David Looney, Samuel Bussell, Lawrence
Aspey, Conrad Hilligoss, James and John Hinchman, John Brown, Thomas,
Henry and John Logan, John Garrison, Isaac and Abraham Fleener, David
Low, Hiram Kindle and Robert Groves. The first white child born in the
township was Louise, daugh¬ter of John Arnold, in June, 1822, and
the first marriage was that of John Horlock and Mary, daughter of Isaac
Arnold, in that same year. The Baptists organized a congregation as
early as 1822 and erected a meeting house on Ben Davis creek. James
Matthews and Clark Kitchen are mentioned as among the early school
teachers. Shafer's sawmill on Ben Davis creek was an early convenience
to the pioneers thereabout and Smelser's gristmill already has been
mentioned. John Arnold opened a store on his farm, and this place of
business was long a center of the community, for years local elections
and musters being held there. On this farm lived Swanson, the only man
ever hanged in Rush county, who was executed for the murder of Elisha
Clark.
Union township is bounded on the north by Wash-ington township and one
section of Center township, east by Fayette county, south by Noble
township and on the west by Rush and Jackson townships. Glenwood in the
southeastern part of the township (lying in sections 28 and 33 of this
township and partly in Fayette county) and Mauzy or Griffin Station,
are trading points on the C. I. & W. railroad and Gings Station in
section 11 and Falmouth in the northeast corner (part lying in Union
township, part in Washington township and part in the neighboring
county of Fayette) are trading points on the Pennsylvania railroad. The
township is well drained, the headwaters of Little Flat Rock river and
its tributaries, Shankitank,
Middle Fork, Shawnee, Plum and Turkey creeks draining the upper half
and Ben Davis creek with its small tributaries draining the lower half
of the township.
Glenwood—This is
an incorporated village of about 300 population which, as above noted,
lies partly in Rush county and partly in Fayette county. It was first
known as Steele's, so called after its first postmaster, who was a
pioneer tavern keeper at that point. In 1832 Dr. Jefferson Helm, Samuel
Durbon and John Morris had a formal plat made of the town and gave it
the name of. Vienna, which some years later was changed to Glenwood and
by this latter name the village since has been known. The first
merchant at this point was Alfred Thompson and Henry and Thomas
Thompson were the pioneer blacksmiths and wagon makers for the
community which developed around the tavern and store. The first
doctors were John Arnold and Jefferson Helm. Among the early business
men were John Gatrell and Moses "Wiley, wagon makers; Gideon Klink,
saddler and harness maker; John Jack, merchant, Samuel Boden,
carpenter; John Lang-ley, who kept a store and was also a preacher, and
G. Clawson, shoemaker. Among the early residents are mentioned Thomas
Smiley, Joseph Clifford, "Ward Williams,' Thomas Ochiltree and Henry
Cline. With the coming of the railroad Glenwood became stimulated with
a new commercial spirit and a grain elevator afforded a convenient
local market, while other lines of business also came in. The later
arrival of the trolley line gave an additional impetus to the business
life of the town. The Methodist Episcopalians and the United
Presbyterians have churches at Glenwood and the Odd Fellows and Red Men
have lodges.
Falmouth—This
village also lies partly over the line in Fayette county and is also
partly in Washington township, being in the extreme northeastern corner
of Union township. It was "laid out" on the Fayette side of the line in 1832 and in the fall of
1867 D. M. Shawhan laid out an addition over the line in Rush county.
The village has a population of about 200 and is a good trading-point
on the Pennsylvania railroad. The Methodist Episcopalians have a church
there. Gings is a station on the Pennsylvania in section 11, a grain
elevator, a store and a blacksmith shop composing the business
interests of the place.
Walker Township
This is one of the smaller
townships in the county, having but thirtv sections in it, six east and
west and five north and south. It is bounded on the north by Posey
township, on the east by Rushville township, on the south by Orange
township and on the west by Shelby county. Manilla, a flourishing town
of about 500 population in the western part of the township, lying in
sections 14 and 15, and Homer, a busy village in section 18, about the
center of the township, are excellent shipping and com¬mercial
points on the Pennsylvania railroad. The surface of the township is
generally flat, though there is some rolling land, and the natural
drainage provided by the sluggish Mud creek and its equally sluggish
tributaries has been supplemented by considerable ditching which was
found necessary to reclaim large sections of swamp lands which in the
early days were regarded as practically valueless but which now are
excellent farm lands. On account of the presence here of much swamp
land and also because it was farther west than the other townships on
the same tier in the county settlement of "Walker township was not
effected as early as in its neighboring township to the east, very few
pioneers having been found there prior to 1824. In this year a
considerable "colony" of Kentuckians came up from Fleming county and
established themselves in the township, their presence stimulating
further settlement until in the next two or three years pretty much all
the available land had been taken up and most of it represented by
established homes. In the list of pioneers of this township are
found the names of John Goddard and his son Joseph, James Davis, Landon
Gardner, Landy Hurst, William Burgess, Daniel Jones, Oliver Norman,
Reuben Hefflin, David Peters. Fielding Hurst, Joshua Hefflin, James
Rogers, Collins Hefflin, Frederick and Jacob Mull, Wright Donnelly,
Isaac Baltis, Mr. Warfield, Samuel Wilson, Edward Inlow, J. Webb,
William Glass, Edward Riley, Samuel Watson, Jacob Hendricks, Peter
Carpenter, Dean Willis, Benjamin Plummer, Paul Folger, William Davis,
Thomas and Barnard Macy, John Bramble, Reuben Conrad, Benjamin Elder,
John Fouch, James and Reuben Alexander, James Goddard, John Heaton,
David Peters, John English, James Fouch, Aaron Rollins, George Thomas,
Isaac Hilligoss, Andrew Elder, Jacob Goddard, Eli Hill, Jonathan
Murphy, Daniel Thomas, Doctor Huston, Gilbert Edwards, Coleman Rollins,
William S. Hilligoss, Benjamin Plummer, Josiah and Alexander Miller,
James Morrison, George and James Mahin, Emmons Hurst, James Enimons,
John Alexander, Levi Hilligoss, Squire McCorkle, William Gates, Fred J.
and Michael Hael, Michael Kney, Joseph Tomes, William Hodge, William
Westerf ield, David and John Dearinger, Fred Koontz, Casper and James
Johnson, James Collins, John Webb and William Hunter.
Manilla—This is
the chief town of Walker township and is situated almost on the western
edge of the county. It is a good shipping point on the Pennsylvania
railroad and has a bank, a grain elevator, a commissioned high school,
two churches and the essential business houses and industrial
establishments to carry on the business of the thriving community of
which it is the center. The present (1921) pastor of the Methodist
Episcopal church is the Rev. M. E. Abel and of the Christian church,
Rev. J. P. Mars. Thomas K. Mull is president of the Manilla Bank and
the Rush-Shelby Grain Company operates the grain elevator.
The postmistress, Miss Mary M. Inlow, who was commissioned on April 2, 1919,
carries on a confec-tionery business in connection with the postof f
ice. Gen-eral stores, John Gross and M. L. Heaton; hardware, J. E.
Creed and Silverthorn & Hungerford; drugs, George J. Inlow; hotel,
Mrs. A. B. Staniford; barber shops, E. H. Mahan and Oscar Passmore;
garage, Frank Nichel; millinery, Blanche Fox; confectionery, Shook
& Son; blacksmith, Edward Edwards. There is one physician in the
village, Dr. W. E. Barnum, and one dentist, Dr. Charles W. Zike. Among
the earlier physicians in the town may be mentioned the names of John
Westerfield, J. W. Houston, James W. Trees, J. J. Inlow, John H.
Spurrier and Armstrong and Ramey. The town has a flourishing lodge of
Freemasons and a lodge of Red Men. When natural gas was developed in
Rush county Manilla secured a good supply through local wells and is
still using this convenient fuel although the pressure is nothing like
it was in other days. It uses the Bell and Independent telephones and
secures electric current for lighting pur¬poses from Rushville. It
was on January 4, 1836, that the original plat of Manilla was filed for
record, the town being "laid out" by Jacob Mull, Elias and Jonathan
Murphy and Jonathan Edwards. At first the town was called "Wilmington,
but later was changed to Manilla, which name it ever since has borne,
one of the two post-offices of that name in the United States. Inquiry
among some of the old residents failed to reveal the source of the
name. The first house in the town was a log cabin erected on the site
of the present Trees homestead place. Jacob Mull was the first merchant
and other early merchants were Woofolk and Riley & Frame. When the
railroad was being constructed through there, in 1848, a sawmill was
erected to get out timber for construction work. The first train ran
over the line on July 4, 1850, and thereafter the growth of the village
to its present stage was substantial, the community appreciating the
advantage of a rail shipping point. One of the former
industries of the town was a tannery which was erected in 1841 and a
gristmill was erected in 1860. The Manilla Bank was organized bv Thomas
K. and Leonidas H. Mull in 1901 and has served as a great commercial
convenience throughout that part of the county.
Homer—This is
the second village in size in Walker township and is a pleasant place
of about 200 souls, on the Pennsylvania railroad about the center of
the township. The Arbuekle tile mill, one of the most extensive in this
part of the state, is the chief industry in the place. There also is a
good grain elevator and the several stores in the village supply the
local wants of the community in the commercial way. The town has an
excellent township school and there are two churches, the Christian and
the Baptists being represented by congregations. The only lodge is that
of the Odd Fellows. Homer grew up around a sawmill which was started by
Nathan Murphy and Samuel Craig at that point in the late '40s to get
out timber for the construction of the railroad and was at first known
simply as "Slabtown," from the use of slabs from the sawmill for road
repairs instead of the usual corduroy, but as the place grew this was
regarded as hardly dignified enough and the classic name of Homer was
given the station and the people there wouldn't trade' that name for
any other on the map. The town was platted in the summer of 1876. Among
the early business men of the village may be mentioned J. Folger, Jesse
Jarrett, James Andrews, Alexander Bridges, J. J. Emmons, William
Emmons, J. T. Robertson, Uriah Thomas, Arbuckle & Son, S. C. Van
Winkle and Jarrett & Innis.
Washington Township
This is the northeast township
of the county and is bounded on the north by Henry county, on the east
by Fayette county, on the south by Union township and on the west by
Center township. Raleigh, in almost the exact center of the township, has been the
social center of the township since it was laid out many years ago. It
was given its name in honor of the capital of orth Carolina, in
deference to the wishes of a number of Carolinians who had settled in
that vicinity. The village of Falmouth, which has been referred to
under the caption of Union township, touches Washington township in the
southeast corner of the township through which the Pennsylvania
railroad runs. Washington township is drained by Flat Rock, Shankitank,
Middle Fork and Shawnee creeks, all rather sluggish streams, which were
not sufficient at an earlier day to drain the extensive swamp lands
which kept hack settlement in that part of the county until
consider¬ably later than other sections began to fill up, but these
swamps have long since been drained by ditches supple¬menting the
creeks and there is now very little land in the township that is not
profitably cultivated. Washington township and the town of Raleigh will
ever be known as the home of the consolidated township school, such a
school having been organized at Raleigh under the direc¬tion of
William S. Hall as early as 1876, which is said to have been the first
movement of the kind in the United States. Mr. Hall, whose ardent
interest in school work is referred to elsewhere in this volume, was
one of the most influential of the earlier residents of Washington
township, served for years as the local justice of the peace, as
township trustee, during which latter term of service he performed his
notable work of school development, and later represented this district
in the state legislature. His son, the venerable Frank J. Hall, now
living at Rushville, who was born in this township, was elected
lieutenant governor of Indiana in 1908. It is said that the first white
male child born in this township was Kin Prine and the first female
Polly E. Jackson. The first marriage was that of John Martin and
Prudence Cooke. The first school teacher was John N. Penwell.
Included among the pioneers of
Washington township, according to the older chronicles, were John
Morgan, Daniel Shawan, Matthew Prine, Richard Knotts, John Cooke,
Thomas and Samuel Legg, Peter Younker, Adam and Zachariah Ainmon,
Marshall and Salathiel Vickery, John and George Maple, William McCann,
Elam Irvin, Thomas and Joseph Hall, Joash Cook, Isaac Fry, James Prine,
Benjamin, William, Joseph and Isaiah Jackson, Samuel Peake, Thomas
Colbert, Jesse Scott, John H. Hood, Philip Ertel, Hiram Plummer, John
Weaver, Matthew Rippe, David and Lewis L. Canaday, John M. Shawhan,
Manlove, Jonathan, James I. and Franklin Caldwell, Robert Jeffries,
Jacob Parrish, Benjamin Loder, John M. Penwell, Samuel Peake, Thomas
Williams, William Beard, Sarah Irvin, Davis Rich, Richard Kolp,
Jonathan and Levi Hatfield, James Low, John Reddin and Alfred C.
Lightfoot.
Raleigh—It
is said that the first house erected on the present site of the town of
Raleigh was built by William McCann, who was one of the early settlers
in that part of the county and that about 1841 Benjamin Clifford opened
a store in that house. This store presently was taken over by Mr.
McCann and the hamlet which grew up around the store became locally
known simply as McCann's. About 1845 William Beard, whose farm covered
the site sold some lots and gave the place the name of Newberne. On
October 30, 1847, E. W. Shrader filed a plat of the site under the name
of Raleigh and later Mr. Beard and Sarah Irvin made an addition to the
original plat. The new plat gave the place the name of Raleigh in honor
of the Carolinians who were settlers thereabout, as has been noted
above. Raleigh found itself far off the line when the railroads began
to come through this section of the state and has remained a pleasant
rural hamlet, its present population being in the neighborhood of 150,
but it has always maintained high standards and as a social center has
ever exerted a wholesome influence throughout that entire countryside;
its influence in an educational
way particularly having been widespread, as stated above. The
consolidated school building erected long ago under Mr. Hall's
thoughtful direction, years ago became inadequate and was supplanted by
the present fine school building, a picture of which is found elsewhere
in this volume.
Population Statistics And Some
Other Matters
According to a preliminary
announcement of popu-lation (subject to correction) issued by the
Census Bureau early in 1921 giving figures of the fourteenth census
(1920), the population of the several townships of Rush county is as
follows: Anderson township, 1,457; Center township, 1,376; Jackson
township, 582; Noble township, 945; Orange township, 1,015; Posey
township, 1,299; Richland township, 695; Ripley township, including
town of Carthage, 1,815; Rushville township, including city of
Rushville, 6,782; Union township, including that part of Glenwood lying
in this county, 1,158; Walker township, 1,192, and Washington township,
925. Total for county, 19,241. Rushville's population is given at
5,498, as follows: First ward, 1,641; Second ward, 1,364; Third ward,
2,493.
The trend of population away
from the farm which has been so noticeable a feature of census
statistics in the middle West during the past two decades has been
noticed with concern in Rush county, where, as in nearly every other
section of the state, the rural communities have suffered a loss in
population. Comparison of the above figures with those of the census
report for twenty years ago will show a decline in population in all
townships of the county save Rushville township, which is saved by the
gain in the city's population, the figures for 1900 being as follows:
Anderson township, 1,481; Center, 1,753; Jackson, 706; Noble, 992;
Orange, 1,102; Posey, 1,495; Richland, 767; Ripley (including
Carthage), 2,118; Rushville (including city of Rushville), 6,027; Union, 1,341; Walker, 1,361; Washington,
1,005. The total population of the county in 1900 was given as 20,148,
as against 19,241 for 1920, and the population of the city of Rushville
in 1900 was given as 4,541, as against 5,498 for 1920. The gain in the
city, however, was not sufficient to offset the loss in the rural
communities and Rush county is thus shown to have suffered an actual
decline in population of 907.
Township Trustees—The
present (1921) trustees of the several townships of Rush county are as
follows: Anderson township, Frank MeCorkle, of Milroy; Center, John F.
Cohee, of Mays; Jackson, Alvah Newhouse, Rushville rural route; Noble,
E. R. Titsworth, Glenwood: Orange, Wilbur Brown, Milroy; Posey, Thomas
R. Lee, Arlington; Richland, Fred Goddard, New Salem rural route;
Ripley, Jesse Henley, Carthage; Rushville, James V. Young, Rushville;
Union, John F. Mapes, Glenwood; Walker, Lew Lewis, Manilla, and
Washington, Edward V. Jackson, Mays rural route.
Some "Deserted
Villages"—An interesting and somewhat pathetic record of blasted
hopes and fruitless ambitions is carried in the plat book at the county
recorder's office, where have been filed in all the pride of budding
hope plats of towns that "died a bornin' " in this county. One of the
earliest of these projects that failed of fruition was that of Moses
Coffin and Joseph Leonard, of this county, and two men living over the
line in Shelby county who platted a "town" of forty-eight lots, half in
Rush and half in Shelby, in June, 1834, and gave the name of "
Savannah" to the same. Its location was one mile south of the northwest
corner of Walker township. Unhappily for the promoters' dreams of a
metropolis rising there, Savannah did not materialize beyond the pen
and ink stage and the old plat book is the only present record of it. In June, 1835, Reuben Johnson filed a
plat of "Ashland," set out as lying in the west half of the southwest quarter of section 17, township 12, range
9 east, and containing thirty lots just east across Big Flat Rock river
from the town of Moscow. Whether the lots were sold or not, Ashland is
not on the current maps of Rush county.
Ml Etna was another paper town
laid out about that time, John Scott in June, 1836, filing a plat of
such town carrying sixteen lots in the east half of the northwest
quarter of section 7, township 14, range 10 east, but Mt. Etna failed
to develop. This proposed town was located in Jackson township, one
mile south of the north line of the township and near the center of
township, east and west.
In September, 1836, Alexander
B. Luce filed a plat of the town of Marcellus, also containing sixteen
lots and lying in the northeast corner of the west half of the
southeast quarter of section 36, township 14, range 10 east, near the
town of Farmington, but search of a modern map of the county fails to
reveal Marcellus.
The same is true of the town of Carmel, a plat of which was filed in
April, 1837, by John W. Barber and others setting out the limits of the
town in the northeast quarter of section 5, township 13, range 10 east.
This was a somewhat more ambitious project than the others for the plat
carried 110 lots, but of Carmel there is now no note on the county's
map, although on account of the high ground the townsite occupied its
projectors had hoped to make of it a rival to Rushville and the
eventual metropolis of the county. The "boom" that was hoped for never
came.
Source: Centennial History of Rush
County, Indiana Edited by A. L. Gray and E.B. Thomas 1921
