HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      15

wheat grown within the territory of what is now Sugar Ridge township.
which was then a part of Washington township. He procured the seed
at Spencer, Owen county, and carried it home. And his son, George M.
Moss, was the first white child born within the same territory.
    Prominent among the earliest settlements were those made on the
hills east of the river, near the present town of Poland. Among those
located in this section from 1820 tip to 1823, were Oliver Cromwell,
Nicholas G. Cromwell, Jared Peyton, Purnell Chance and sons, Daniel
and Tilghman, the Andersons, Walkers, Dyars and Lathams. At the
time of the organization of the county, 1825, this neighborhood ranked as
the most populous one within the territory. At that date, there were
not known to be any white settlers within the present bounds of Posey,
Dick Johnson, Brazil, Van Buren, Jackson and Sugar Ridge townships.
In 1826, William McBride came from Ohio and settled on Otter Creek,
north of Cloverland, and the same year Jacob Goodrich came from New
York and built the first cabin on the site of the town of Williamsburg. In
1828, they were joined by Martin Bowles, from Virginia, and John R.
Smith, from Ohio. About 1827, Mark Bolin settled near the present
town of Harmony, and the year following, George G. McKinley located
one mile south. When Posey township was organized the name was
suggested by McBride in honor of Governor Posey. When twitted about
the inappropriateness of the name for an area of thirty-six square miles of
unsubdued wilderness, the old pioneer replied in a tone of assurance and
hopefulness:” Though we are a wilderness now, yet the day will come
when we shall bloom as the rose.” Soon after this Major Ringo, Joseph
Ringo and Morgan Bryant came from Kentucky and settled in this
territory. Among the many others who sought homes within this terri-
tory at a comparatively early (lay were Daniel Wools, Peter Eppert,
Micajah Phillips, Lewis Fortner, Charles B. Modesitt, John Frump, Sr.,
Jacob Moore, John Huffman, James W. Modesitt. William Yocum built
the first frame house erected in the township, at Williamstown.
    The first settlers with staying (lualities to occupy the ground now
covered by the city of Brazil, were James Campbell, Solomon Myers, Sr.,
Samuel Moore, Jonathan Yocum and James Yocum, who were there as
early as, or prior to, the year 1834, ten years before the town was founded.
Campbell’s cabin stood on the site of the present Hendrix brick residence;
Myers’, on the elevation southwest of the Vandalia depot, near the resi-
dence of William Leavitt, Sr.; Moore’s, near South Forest Avenue, on
the former Staubetcher place; Jonathan Yocum’s, at a point now in-
cluded within the court-house grounds, and James Yocum’s, on what was
formerly and is yet known as the Shattuck place. At the last named
place was born George Yocum, the first white child born within the
territory of Brazil township. Of the pioneer population of the northwest
part of the county were the Archers, Downings, Akers, Websters and
Yocums, who settled there as early as, or prior to, 1830, and soon there-
after came Berryman James, George McCullough, Daniel Dunlavy, James
Smith, James M. Halbert and others. Ira Archer was the first-born white
child within the territory now known as Dick Johnson township.
    In the northeast part of the county were Matthew Cox, James
Roberts, Moses Parr, John Graves, Isham Steed, George Williams, David
Murphy, Joseph Mosteller, Preston Morgan, Samuel Poff, John C.
Weaver, John Pell and others, who settled within what is now known as
Van Buren township very soon after the organization of the county. It