WHITE COUNTY, INDIANA
West Point Township
History
The Political Township Of West Point
Is One Of The Largest Of The Civil
Divisions Of White County, Comprising A Congressional Township And A
Half, Or Fifty-Four Square Miles. It Is In The Southwestern Part Of The
County And Is Bounded North By Princeton (Of Equal Length), East By The
Southwest Section Of Honey Creek Township And Big Creek Township, South
By The Three Westernmost Sections In The North Tier Of Prairie And The
Entire Boundary Of Round Grove Township, And West By Benton County.
Nearly The Entire Northeast Quarter Of The Township Was Covered With
Timber, The Remainder Being Included In The Grand Prairie. A Distinct
Point Of Wooded Land Extends Westward Into The Prairie Country Some
Distance Beyond The General Timber Line, And That Physical Feature
Decided The Early Settlers To Name The Township West Point, When It Was
Organized In 1845.
Natural Features Of The Township
The Wooded Lands Generally Occur
Massed In The Northeastern Sections.
There Are Two Exceptions To The Rule In Long Grove, A Small Wooded
Tract In The Southern Part Of The Township, And In Jordan's Grove, A
Larger Timbered Area In The Southwest, Which Derives Its Name From
William Jordan, Who, With Other Members Of The Family, Entered Much
Land In That Locality At An Early Day.
The Natural Drainage Of West Point
Township Is Chiefly Due To Big Creek
And The Little Monon; The Former Rises In The Township, And Both Water
Its Northwestern Sections. The Timbered, Or Northeastern Portion, Was A
Succession Of Low Sand-Ridges, With Intervening Swamp Lands Sprinkled
With Ponds. Now All Of It Is Drained And In A High State Of
Cultivation. The Prairie Lands Of The South Are Broken By Undulations
And Small Hills, Those Of The North And West Being Generally Level. The
Prevailing Soil Is A Black Loam, With Subsoil Of Sand, Gravel And Clay.
Neighboring Market Towns
Although West Point Township Has
Neither Railroad Nor Postoffice, It Is
More Advantageously Situated Than Some Districts Which Have These
Facilities. Since Its Rather Useless Array Of Non-Resident Land Owners
Has Been Largely Replaced By Settlers Prone To Make Improvements, The
Wet Lands Have Been Reclaimed, And Good Roads Constructed So As To
Bring The Farmers Within Easy Access To Such Neighboring Markets As
Wolcott And Reynolds To The North And Chalmers And Brookston To The
Southeast. West Point Township Has Had One Postoffice--Forney,
Established In 1881 On The Old Lafayette And Wolcott Mail Route, In The
Southwestern Part Of The Township—but That Was Absorbed By The Rural
Free Delivery Which Is Of So Much General Utility.
Road Building
In The Building Of The Macadam Or
Gravel Roads Which Are Of Such
Widespread Benefit To The People, The Township Has Incurred A Debt Of
Nearly $30,000. Of That Amount The J. H. Moore Road Is Credited With
$11,200; Hewitt, $2,380; Krapff, $10,800; Pugh, $5,400.
First Settlers And Land Owners
The First Settlements In The Township
Were Made In 1835 By Shelby
Hudson And Oscar Dyer, Who Entered Lands On Christmas Day Of 1834 In
Section 15, Northeast Of The Central Part Of The Township. They Did Not
Settle Until The Following Spring, When Each Built A Hewn-Log Cabin
Half A Mile Apart, 16 By 18 Feet In Size. Each Had Its Clapboard Roof,
An Opening For One Window Made By The Omission Of A Log Section And The
Big, Invariable Fire-Place.
Isaac S. Vinson And Wife
How Long The Bachelors Hudson And
Dyer Remained On The Ground Is Not
Divulged By Any Accessible Records, But It Is Known That Isaac S.
Vinson, Who Had Bronght His Wife And Two Children To Union Township
From Ohio, About The Time That They Built Their Cabins On The Banks Of
Big Creek, Appeared In That Locality In The Spring Of 1838 And Bought
The Hudson Land, With Improvement—if The Shack Could Be Thus Dignified.
But It Was A Family Shelter And A Protection Against Wild Beasts. The
Pottawatamies Had An Encampment Just Across Big Creek, But They Were
Friendly And, At Times, Of Actual Use.
From All The Accounts Which Filter
Down, Mrs. Vinson's Bartering With
The Dusky Brothers Was Largely In Her Favor, Such Exchanges As The
Saddles, Or Hindquarters Of A Deer, For Two Cold Corn Cakes, Or A
Number Of Saddles For A Loaf Of Bread, Being Nothing Out Of The
Ordinary. In Those Days Deer And Game Birds Were Especially Plentiful,
And One Winter The Lady Of The House Made A Trap And Caught 101 Prairie
Chickens.
The Vinsons Remained On Their
Homestead On Big Creek For A Number Of
Years, During Which Mr. Vinson Bought Land In Section 12, And In 1855
Moved To The New Town Of Reynolds In Honey Creek Township, Where The
Man Of The House Established Himself In Business And As A Hotel Keeper.
Mr. And Mrs. Vinson Raised A Large Family. The Father Died In August,
1883, At The Indiana Hospital For The Insane, Indianapolis, Where He
Had Passed A Number Of Years Laboring Under Religious Mania. His
Remains Were Brought To Monticello And Buried From The Residence Of One
Of His Sons.
First Land Entry
The First Entry Of Land In The
Township Was Made By John T. Bunnell,
June 18, 1834, His Tract Being In Section 15, As Were The Lots Of
Hudson And Dyer. But There Is No Evidence That Bunnell Ever Made Any
Improvements On His Land, Or Participated In Township Affairs.
Sickness Drove Away The Prices
Soon After The Arrival Of The Vinson
Family, However, John Price And
His Wife Came Into The Township, But The Latter Was Taken Ill And The
Couple Returned To Their Ohio Home. Mr. Price Appeared On His Claim
Soon Afterward Alone, But Was Stricken With Inflammatory Rheumatism,
And For Three Months Lay In Almost A He]Pless Condition At The Vinson
House. During The Following Spring He Sold His Property And Left The
Township Permanently.
Land Entries Of 1835
From The Tract Book It Appears That
In 1835 The Following Made Land
Entries In West Point Township: Andrew Brown, In Section 11; John
Lewis, In Section 12, And Armstrong Buchanan, In Section 14.
Would Rather Hunt Than Eat
The Next Person To Settle In The
Township After Shelby Hudson And Oscar
Dyer Was Isaac Beezy, A Noted Hunter, Who Came In 1837. But He Was Of
The Uneasy, Erratic Kind, And His Stay Was Short. It Is Said That His
Desire For Hunting Was So Keen That He Would Go For Days Without
Eating; As Many As Twenty Unskinned Deer Are Known To Have Been In His
Smoke-House, Frozen Stiff, And The Gaunt Beezy Still Hunting More. The
Hunter Never Made Much Improvement On His Land, Soon Left The Township
And Settled In Pulaski County, Where He Was Killed By An Ex-Convict.
The Van Voorsts And Their Frame Houses
In 1841, John And Sylvanus Van Voorst
Came From Ohio And Purchased
Large Tracts Of Canal Lands In Sections 14 And 22, Probably 300 Acres.
John Also Bought 160 Acres In Section 10. They Brought Their Houses
With Them, Procuring The Frames In Toledo, Which They Shipped, With
Other Necessary Material, By Way Of The Wabash And Erie Canal, To
Delphi And Thence By Wagon, Twenty-Five Miles, To West Point Township.
The House Of John Van Voorst Was A Large Two-Story Frame And Was Placed
On A High Knoll In The Prairie Near The Point Of Timber Which Gave The
Township Its Name. Its Site, As Well As Its Size, Made It By Far The
Most Imposing House In The Township.
Abram Van Voorst, Who Died At The
Monticello Home Of His Son, Henry, In
1899, Did Not Locate In Section 12 On The Border Of Big Creek Township,
Until 1849. Most Of His Life In White County Was Spent As A Resident Of
Reynolds.
Doctor Halstead Buys Land
In 1841 And 1845 Dr. John Halstead,
The First Physician In The
Township, Entered Considerable Canal Land In Sections 2 And 4, In The
Northeastern Part, And Is Said To Have Actually Located For Practice
And Speculation In 1844. He Came With His Brother, Bartlett Halstead.
William Jordan Locates
About The Same Time William Jordan, A
Resident Of Tippecanoe County,
Moved Into The Township, Settling On His Entry In Section 35,
Southwestern Portion, Which He Had Taken Up In 1842. He Afterward
Purchased The Bulk Of The 480 Acres Of Canal Lands In Section 36, But
Fixed His Homestead On The Tract In Section 35, Which Comprised The
Large And Beautiful Grove Bearing His Name. Within The Eighteen Square
Miles Comprising The East Half Of Congressional Township 26, Range 6,
And The West Third Of West Point Township, The Jordan Family
Represented, For Many Years, Its Sole Residents.
Other Entries In 1836-45
Besides Those Already Mentioned, The
Following Entered Land In The
Sections Designated, Previous To And Including The Year Of The
Formation Of The Political Township In 1845: In 1836—thomas H. Brown,
In Section 1, Township 26 North, Range 5 West, And In Section 12 Of The
Same; Andrew Brown, In Sections 12 And 13, And Thomas Price, In Section
15; In 1839—joshua H. Scarff, In Section 1, And George Mcgaughey, In
Section 11; In 1841—jesse T. Vinson And Jacob Nyce, In Section 1; John
Halstead, In Section 21, And William J. Galford, In Section 13; Mary
Halstead, In 1844, And John Halstead, In 1845, Both In Section 4.
Township Voters
At The June Term Of The
Commissioners' Court, In 1845, It Was Ordered
By That Body That All Of Congressional Township 26 North, Range 5 West,
And All West Of That To The County Line, Should Comprise The Political
Township Of West Point. In The Preceding Year A Log Schoolhouse Had
Been Built, 18 By 24 Feet, And This Was Designated As The Place For
Holding Elections. At The First Election, Held In The Following August,
The Fourteen Citizens Of The Township Who Turned Out To Exercise Their
Rights Of The Elective Franchise Were Ira Emery, Sylvanus Van Voorst,
Alexander Page, Jesse Tinnison, William Vodyce, Isaac Beezy, William
Jordan, John Halstead, Barney Spencer, Gideon Brecount And Isaac S.
Vinson, Several Of Whom Will Be Recognized As Acquaintances.
The Van Voorst Frame Schoolhouses
Several Years After The Building Of
The Old West Point Schoolhouse,
Abram Van Voorst Erected Two Frame Buildings For Educational Purposes,
One On Section 7 And The Other On Section 15. As There Were No Sawmills
In The Township, He Hauled The Material For Their Construction From
Delphi. Each Of These Frame Schoolhouses Was 20 By 24 Feet, Cost $500
And Was Considered Quite A Demonstration Of Township Enterprise. All
The Van Voorsts Were Promoters Of Frame Buildings, And Induced Quite A
Number Of The Early Settlers To Enter The Ranks Of Progress In That
Regard.
Churches Of The Township
The Religious Needs Of The Pioneers
Were Met Almost Immediately By Such
Old And Faithful Circuit Riders As Rev. Mr. Lee, Of The Methodist
Church, Who Preached Quite Often At The Old Vinson House And Other
Cabins Before The Organization Of A Regular Class In 1844. In That Year
A Little Log Church Was Erected On Section 2, Range 5. Later The United
Brethren Held Services In Schoolhouse No. 2, And The Presbyterians And
Other Denominations Have Organized Societies With Varying Success.
Anderson Irion And David Dellinger
In 1853 Capt. Anderson Irion And
David Dellinger Became Settlers Of The
Township. The Former, Who Had Received His Title Because He Had
Organized A Company For The Mexican War While Residing In Fayette
County, Ohio, Located In West Point Township About Seven Miles
Southeast Of Wolcott, And Became Quite Prominent In County Affairs,
Serving As Commissioner And In Other Public Capacities. Several Of
Captain Irion's Sons Also Became Prosperous Farmers And Leading
Citizens.
David Dellinger Also Came From Ohio
And Bought A Large Farm In The
Northern Part Of The Township, Seven Miles Southwest Of Reynolds. Both
He And Captain Irion Made A Specialty Of Raising Live Stock.
Land Entries, 1847-51
Probably At The Time (1853) These Two
Well Known Residents Settled In
West Point Township Its Entire Fifty-Four Square Miles Could Not Show
Twenty-Five Families. Many Of Those Who Came During The Period Previous
To The Early '50s Were Single Young Men, Some Of Them Speculating And
Others Prospecting For Future Homes. Those Who Entered Lands From 1845
To 1852 Were As Follows: In 1847— John Nyce, Sarah Adams, Samuel P.
Edmonson, Sarah J. Halstead And Walter Mcfarland, In Section 4, And
Isaac S. Vinson, In Section 12; In 1848—isaac M. Cantwell, In Section
9, And Nicholas Van Pelt And Samuel Mcfeer, In Section 10; In 1849—
John Herron, In Section 2; Drury Wood, In Section 5; Grant Wynkoop And
James Wynkoop, In Sections 6 And 7; Peter B. Kennedy, In Section 7;
Henry Britton, In Section 12, And Marquia Higson, In Section 22; Eli
Meyers, In Section 12, In 1850; In 1851-- James Stroud, In Section 6,
And Daniel Davis, In Section 23.
Parmelee's Meadow Lake Farm
It Is Estimated That Of The
Fifty-Four Square Miles Comprising The Area
Of The Township Fully Forty Were Purchased By Non-Residents, Mostly As
Military, Canal And Swamp Lands. That Fact Usually Was A Great Drawback
To Actual Settlement And Improvements, Although There Was One
Noteworthy Exception To The Rule. As Late As 1879 Frank Parmelee, The
Widely Known 'Bus Man And Storage-House Proprietor Of Chicago,
Purchased What Was Known As The Meadow Lake Farm, A Fine Stretch Of
1,700 Acres In The Northern Part Of The Township, 3 1/2 Miles South Of
Wolcott. Within The Following Two Years He Erected A Handsome Residence
And Magnificent Farm Buildings, And Founded One Of The Finest Live
Stock Farms In The State. His Specialty Was Hereford Cattle. But The
Parmelee Case Was, As Stated, A Grand Exception.
With The Drainage Of The Swamp Lands,
The Fair Assessment Of The
Benefited Properties, The Subdivisions Of Large Tracts Held For Purely
Speculative Purposes And The Construction Of Adequate Highways, The
Residents Of West Point Township Have Long Been Comfortable And
Contented Citizens.
Source: Counties of White and
Pulaski, Indiana: Historical and Biographical By F.A. Battey & Co,
Weston Arthur Goodspeed Published by F.A. Battey & Co., 1883