Greene County IN Archives History - Books .....Chapter XIV Stockton Township 1884
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Book Title: History Of Greene And Sullivan Counties, Indiana

CHAPTER XIV.

STOCKTON TOWNSHIP—HISTORICAL SKETCH, BY MARTIN WINES—ORGANIZATION or THE
TOWNSHIP REMINISCENCES—LINTON—MERCHANDISING —RESIDENTS AND INDUSTRIES—THE EARLY
SCHOOLS—THE SCHOOL LAW—THE EARLY CHURCHES—DIFFUSION OF RELIGION.

THE following general sketch of the settlement in Greene County, written by
Martin Wines in 1860, and published in the White River zette, [sic] is deemed of
sufficient value for an insertion in the chapter on Stockton Township, where the
old settler lived for so many years:

   "The first settling of any new country is generally an encounter with
privations, hardships, difficulties and dangers. Some are more so than others,
according to climate, natural productions, variety and quantity of game, fish,
wild fruit, etc. Scarcely any new country but what has more or less of these;
some have nearly every difficulty to brook, while in other new settlements a
good many of our necessary wants are easily obtained.

   "In the first settling of Greene County, many had to encounter the fever and
ague, chills and fever, and in some instances bilious fever, and without the
assistance and relief of physicians, of which we are so abundantly blessed in
these days.

   "The first location was made in the fall of 1816, on the waters of Black
Creek, by John Jessup and his family. He built a small log cabin near the
western line of Greene County, and during the next winter or spring was joined
by William Lemon and Thomas Smith. Smith remained but a short time, however,
when he concluded to establish a ferry on White River, a short distance below
the mouth of Eel River. His ferry-fiat he constructed by having two long poplar
sticks, in such manner and shape as to form of each one half a boat; these were
firmly fastened together with cleats, and in such a manner as to form a good and
substantial ferry boat, that lasted for several years. This ferry is continued
to this day, and is still known by the name of Smith's Ferry, although Smith
himself has been dead for many years, and his family nearly extinct.

   "Lemon and Jessup soon followed Smith on to White River, and many others
about this time also settled in the White River Valley.

    "Some of the lands were purchased at the land sales at Vincennes, in the
year 1816. Jonathan Lindley purchased the tract where the beautiful village of
Worthington now stands, including the lofty site of Point Commerce. Solomon
Dixon purchased that excellent tract just below Fairplay, which is still owned
by the Dixon family, I believe by William Dixon. Peter C. Vanslyke also
purchased, at the land sales aforesaid, a tract of superior land, mostly river
bottom, amounting to 800 or 1,000 acres, situated up and down the river, west of
Bloomfield. These, with one or two others, perhaps, were the only tracts sold at
the public sales; vet immediately after the close of the public sales, the
purchases by private entries were numerous and continual. Many exciting races
have been run from some part of Greene County to the land office, and even the
darkness of night or the blasts of storm could not intercept the contest.

   "I have mentioned the names of Jessup, Lemon and Smith as early settlers. I
might also, in the same list, mention Soebe, Shoemaker, Sanders, Stalcups,
Watson, Dyer, Heshaw, Craig, Owens, Buskirk, Jackson, Kelshaw, Deem, Clark and
Kelly. These, with a few others, located in the upper part of the county.
Further down the river could be found Ingersoll, Fields, Wines, Howard,
Shintaffer, Shafer, Hogue, Van Voorst, Warnick, Van Slyke, Scott, Robinson,
Gillum, Bradford, Fellows, Pearce, Faucett, Mason, Benham, Bogard, Barker,
Bynum, O'Neal, Slinkard, Herrington, Stafford and Buckles.

   "These, with a few others, may be styled the first settlers of Greene County.
But previous to the organization of Greene County, Sullivan, extending east to
White River, and Daviess, extending upon the east side of White River to the
Owen County line, were in the territory before the organization of Greene
County, which took place during the session of 1820-21. The emigration increased
rapidly, and extended into every part of the county; but the east increased
faster than the west side of the river. Timber and fine springs were in
abundance on the east side to be found, while on the west, below Eel River, the
timber was generally scant and dwarfish, and nearly or quite destitute of
springs. These privations and objections to a North Carolinian were insufferable
obstacles, not to be encountered in settling a new country.

   "The election held previous to the organization of Greene, and while we yet
constituted a part of Sullivan, was at David Soebe's, where Robert Inman now
lives. It was the precinct of White River Township, and contained 200 square
miles. The representative district included Knox, Sullivan, Vigo, Morgan, Owen
and Daviess Counties, and sent three Representatives to the State Legislature.

   "John McDonald, of Daviess County, George R. Sullivan, of Knox, and Gen.
Sturges, of Vigo, were the candidates voted for in our township, and they were
elected. The other candidates I do not recollect, but I believe Gen. George W.
Wasson, of Carlisle, in Sullivan County, was one of them. The Legislature at
this time and for two or three years after met at Corydon, Harrison County.
Jonathan Jennings was Governor, his term of office expiring at this time, he was
succeeded by Gov. William Hendricks.

   "Besides the sickness of this new settlement, and this was by no means light,
especially in the summer and fall of the year 1820, we were also destitute of
mills for grinding our breadstuffs, excepting the hominy block and hand mills,
which, by way of definite designation, were termed "Arm-strong's mill." The
grinding on either of these mills required the strength of a full-grown person,
and as the operation was slow it made a repetition of hardships daily amounting
in the aggregate to a very considerable sum of fatigue and hardship.

   "Mechanics were but few and far between—their materials of poor quality and a
short supply, so that many of us had for a table a broad piece of plank, a slab,
top of a box or chest—and our bedsteads were in like manner, badly constructed
in one corner of the cabin. Thus many inconveniencies were endured for several
years, until by degrees we became inured and resigned to our destitutions and
privations."

   The early settlers, more particularly in Stockton Township, were Thomas
Breece, Robert Harrah, William Osborn, John Osborn, old man Hale, M. Pool,
Stephen Stone, J. Robinson, William Humphreys, Jesse Powell. William Ellis,
Aquilla Moss and his boys Nathaniel, C. M., Stephen, W. G., J. J., Jeptha,
Laban, D. H., Joseph and Elijah, and his girls Mary and Sarah, old man Goodman,
Martin Wines, Wickliff Wines, William Stephens, Andrew Humphreys and many others.

ORGANIZATION.

   Stockton Township, as it is now, was not created until many years had elapsed
after the organization of the county. In 1821, at the first term of the first
Board of County Commissioners, Richland Township comprised the present townships
of Stockton, Grant, Fairplay and Richland. The first change made in this large
township was in May, 1828, when all west of the river (now Fairplay, Grant and
Stockton) were constituted Dixon Township. In August, 1829, the township of
Dixon was divided into Fairplay and Black Creek Townships, the latter comprising
the present Townships of Grant and Stockton. In January, 1830, the name Black
Creek was changed to Stockton, in accordance with the suggestion of Wickliff
Wines, who regarded the township one of the finest in the county for
stock-range. Another account says the township derives its name from an under
officer in one of the early American wars. The township kept its above
last-named limits through all the years, until March, 1869, when Grant, having
secured the railroad and the town of Switz City was created, since which time
Stockton has had its present limits. The early elections were held at Fairplay,
which was the oldest town in the county, and the names of the residents of the
present Stockton Township, who served in these early years, will be found in the
chapter on Richland Township. At the creation of the above described township of
Dixon the following officers were appointed by the County Board—Jonathan B.
Sanders, Inspector; Hiram Hayward, William Buckles and John Patton Road
Supervisors; Ezekiel Herrington and Daniel Fields, Fence Viewers; Robert Harrah
and Samuel Fields, Overseers of the Poor, and elections were ordered held at the
house of Hiram Hayward.

REMINISCENCES.

   Upon the arrival of the first settlers, the township was one of the finest in
the county. A considerable portion was quite level and was open prairie land,
where herds of deer grazed on the rich grass which grew in profusion, often
higher than a man's head. Other portions were more rolling and were covered with
timber, through which all the varieties of wild animals of this latitude roamed.
Several of the Mosses and others were experienced hunters. O. M. Moss has killed
eight full-grown deer at four shots. Laban Moss was also a skillful deer hunter.
On more than one occasion he killed two at one shot. Aquilla Moss was one of the
first preachers. He was a hard-shell Baptist, and was a man of great force of
character and commanded wide influence and unbounded respect from all who knew
him. He was also a man of great hardihood, and •could withstand the attacks of
disease and encounter the inclemencies of the weather without injury or effect.
Nathaniel Moss was also an early preacher, as were Nicholas Smith and Jonathan
Jones. Among the first marriages were those of James Armstrong and Eveline
Harrah, and William Osborn and Eleanor Wines. William Stephens, an eccentric old
settler who had been with Gen. Jackson behind the cotton bales at New Orleans,
was a famous story-teller, a sort of Peter Pindar, whose fund of anecdotes was
inexhaustible. Hart's trace was the old trail from Smith's Ferry on White River,
extending across Stockton Township to the old Shaker settlement near Carlisle.
Nine Mile Prairie is said to have received its name from the fact that it was
nine miles from Fairplay, the election precinct and the leading commercial point
on the river at the time of the earliest settlement. Buck Creek took its name
from the great number of very large bucks killed there one winter at the time of
earliest settlement. Prairie fires were grand sights when the country was yet
new. The grass grew so high that late in the fall, when it was dead and before
it had fallen to the ground, or early in the spring, ere the new crop had
commenced to grow, when afire once started with a strong wind nothing could stop
the whirlwind of flame and destruction; not even a heavy rainstorm. The
advancing ranks of fire would come so rapidly that they often swept over the
leaves far out into the surrounding woods. The old man Wines told of a race he
once had from the flames. He was on a horse, which he had to put to its best
pace for a couple of miles or more ere he had reached a place of safety. The
flames would dart up twenty feet high, and were accompanied by a frightful
atmospheric roaring, as the great area of heat would cause the air to rapidly
ascend in circular columns of smoke. The first three schoolhouses built in the
township were destroyed by fire. More than a dozen houses were similarly burned
during the early years. The destruction of hay was a common occurrence. No
distillery of note ever operated in the township. Andrew Humphreys manufactured
a small amount at an early day. He was an early blacksmith and Justice of the
Peace, and has for years been one of the most eminent citizens of the county.
His remarkable political career is described elsewhere.

LINTON.

   This neat little village of enterprising, thrifty people, was founded really
by Wickliff Wines. Before the town was thought of, John W. Wines sold goods in
the township. This was as early as 1831, and perhaps earlier. It is said he
afterward removed his goods to Fairplay. Wickliff Wines, the same, opened his
store at Linton not far from 1837. He sold from a small stock of dry goods,
groceries, hardware, drugs, notions, and soon afterward started a small horse
mill to crack corn for the neighborhood. People then mostly ate meal instead of
flour, and a home mill could crack the corn up fine enough for the pioneer
mouth, and thus a long journey through bottomless roads to some distant water
mill was avoided. This led to the demand for the horse mill of Mr. Wines. About
the same time, also, he sunk a few vats, and began tanning deer and other hides.
He dealt in furs, which, periodically, were taken away by French traders of
Vincennes. In a short time the town, which was not yet a town, began to grow. It
was not properly laid out and recorded until June, 1850, at which time Hannah E.
Osborn and Isaac V. Coddington secured the services of the County Surveyor, and
laid out forty lots on Section 23, Township 7 north, Range 7 west, and named the
town Linton, for a gentleman living in Terre Haute, it is said. It had become
quite a little village by this time, however.

MERCHANDISING.

   Among the earliest merchants were Wickliff Wines, Henry String, William
Osborn, Thomas Smith (who sold tinware), Thomas Ashley, Riggs & Ashley, John
Ashley, Ashley & Osborn, Price Brothers, Humphreys & Aiken, Josiah Coddington
and others. This brought it up to just before the last war of 1861-65. After
this came Samuel Gray, Andrew Humphreys, and W. G. Moss (who had about $10,000
worth). Humphreys, Rector & Moss, Aiken & Son, William Baker, Price & Colton
(about 1861), B. S. Sherwood (who sold goods for Holmes, of Louisville), John
Klink, Henry Ramacher, 3. F. Wood & Co., Ernest Stretelmyer, J. P. McIntosh, J.
N. Yakey, Edwards Brothers, J. W. Wolford, Wolford & Yakey, Yakey & Law, Terhune
& Humphreys, Cornelius & Osborn and others. The present business (February,
1884), may be classified as follows: General stores, J. W. Wolford & Son, Yakey
& Law; drugs, J. B. Holson, Moss & Moss; hardware and agricultural implements,
Moss & Humphreys; groceries, C. E. Osborn and Moss & Moss; clothing and boots
and shoes, J. B. Able; milliner, Mrs. S. E. Turner; barber, W. H. Andrews;
cooper, W. H. Andrews; Blacksmiths, I. N. B. Hinman, H. M. Sherwood; livery, I.
V. Buck; hotels, B. S. Sherwood and I. V. Buck; secret society, Masonic; church,
Methodist; grist mill, Watson & Bunting, east of town. Dr. J. M. Humphreys
opened the first distinctive drug store. He was followed by O. P. McKissick.
McIntosh afterward took the trade. Dobbins & Winder opened a hardware store in
1SS1; Graham soon took Winder's place, and the latter finally took the whole
stock. Moss & Humphreys have the trade now. C. B. Kemp was in the drug business
for a short time, as was also Robert Kirkham. Moss Brothers are his successors.

RESIDENTS AND INDUSTRIES.

   In 1859, among the residents of the town, according to the hastily given,
though excellent recollection of Mr. J. W. Wolford, were I. V. Coddington,
farmer and blacksmith; Stephen Coddington, Isaiah Coddington, wagon-makers; Dr.
A. J. Miller, W. M. Price, storekeepers; Thomas Mason, tanner; John Klink,
cooper; Dr. W. F. Sherwood, James McClung, hotel keepers; Wilson Humphreys,
merchant; Dr. J. M. Harrah, D. L. Osborn, farmers; Marcus Sperry, blacksmith;
Thomas Smith, tavern keeper; Hiram Baker, farmer and carpenter; Rev. A. P.
Forsythe and J. W. Wolford, wagon-makers. Before this the old tannery had long
been running, and continued under several owners until about the time of the
last war, when it was abandoned. I. V. Coddington had made wagons before this
date. At his best, he had four or five employes, and turned out about thirty
finished vehicles per annum. F. M. & Alvin Owens made wagons quite extensively
in the decade of the sixties. A carding mill had been operated in town a few
years, beginning about the year 1851; Bledsoe & Jones had some claim on this
mill. Its life, like that of very good little children is said to be, was brief.
The present grist mill, east of town, was erected by the Armstrongs about twenty
years ago. The building is two-stored, is 40x60, and has two sets of stone, one,
for wheat and one for corn. The old George Clayton Grist Mill on Beehunter Creek
was erected late in the forties, and ran a useful career of eight or ten years.
Among the physicians of the town have been Wood, Sherwood, Miller, Harrah,
Jackson, Clark. The present doctors are B. A. Rose, E. T. Sherwood, Jesse Hanna
and L. H. Dilley. Wickliff Wines was the first Postmaster, and William Cornelius
is the present agent. Linton is a good business point. The county fair ground is
just east of town. The population is about 200.

   An account of the Odd Fellows Lodge will be found in the sketch of Switz
City, to where the lodge was removed. Linton Lodge, A., F. & A. M., No. 560, was
created a few years ago. It worked under a dispensation from 1880 to 1882, and
then secured its charter. Thomas Jones, J. W. Wolford, E. J. Jackson, were the
leading members at the start. The lodge started with a membership of about
thirteen, and now has about twenty-four. The first officers were E. J. Jackson,
W. M; T. M. Jones, S. W.; J. W. Wolford, J. W.; T. A. Fairnot, Treasurer; and
Henry Ramacher, Secretary. The lodge is in a prosperous condition.

SCHOOLS.

   This is one of the townships where it is next to impossible to tell who
taught the first school or where it was taught. They were so few and so
scattering, and at the same time so unimportant, that they escaped attention and
have passed hopelessly beyond the powers of recollection. An early school was
taught by one of the Mosses, one by Harrah, one by Wines, and another by one of
the Osborns. A log schoolhouse was built near Linton, just west of town, as
early, it is said, as 1828. Two others were built soon afterward. It is said
that Nathaniel Moss was the first teacher in the Osborn neighborhood. An early
schoolhouse was built near the western border of the township, east or southeast
of Dugger. Three log schoolhouses were standing in about 1832, all of which were
burned by prairie fires set out by hunters to drive deer into the woods where
they could be shot from concealment. Hiram Hayward and Daniel Fields were famous
hunters, who resorted to this method to secure venison and buckskins. The
primitive log schoolhouse is well known. Round logs, hastily thrown up in a
square about 16x16; a log left out on one side, over which greased paper was
fastened to keep out the rain and cold, to admit light; a large fire-place
occupying an entire end of the building, and a huge "cat and clay" chimney on
the outside; rude clapboard desks and seats, and an almost entire absence of
books. The Testament and Webster's Speller were indispensable to the early
schools. Writing was done with a quill sharpened by the teacher. "Mend my pen"
was an expression of frequent daily occurrence. A long, seasoned gad was always
present. Spelling schools were numerous and famous. Young people would "ride
double" miles to attend one, and would stand and spell and spell until midnight.
Then came the ride home over the frosty earth, through the eager air. The old
schoolhouse at the cemetery west of Linton was used many years. It was succeeded
by a log structure erected in the eastern part of Linton in the forties. In
1859, a frame schoolhouse was erected, which was destroyed by fire the following
year, after which the old house was used until soon after the close of the last
war, when another frame house was built, in size about 20x28. Miss Julia Sheehy
was the first teacher in this house. In 1882, the present two-storied frame
schoolhouse in the southeastern part of town was erected, at a cost of $1,500.
The building has two comfortable rooms—one above and one below. S. P. Carress
was the first teacher. He was joined by John Cravens as an assistant, who is now
the Principal (winter of 1883-84). The enumeration is about eighty scholars.

CHURCHES.

   But few localities in the county have had superior religious advantages to
Stockton Township. The early residents were men of strong moral views, who
endeavored to practice what they preached and who labored hard in the cause of
the Master. Rev. Aquilla Moss was the earliest prominent minister who resided in
the township. Nathaniel Moss was another, and Nicholas Smith and Jonathan Jones
were prominent divines. The Methodist class at Linton was organized about the
year 1830, in the old log schoolhouse at the cemetery. Early in the forties, the
church was built on ground donated, it is said, by Wickliif Wines. Among the
earliest members were Martin Wines, Wickliff Wines, David Osborn, George
Clayton, Thomas Lund, Thomas Butler, Aquilla Price, Martin Hale, John Butler,
George Butler, George B. Denton, Hiram Baker, the Sharps, the Wakefields, the
Lismans, the Jameses, several of the Coddingtons, the Rileys, the Smiths,
William Buck, the Harrahs and others. The present class in Linton is the lineal
descendant of this old class. The present fine frame church was erected in 1882
at a cost of $1,600 by A. B. Tharp, contractor. The old church west of town was
standing until 1881, when it was removed, piecemeal, to Linton, re-adjusted, and
transformed into a hardware store, and is now occupied by Moss & Humphreys. The
Morris Church in the western part is an old organization. Their frame church was
built over thirty years ago, and among the membership there were the Stones, the
Hales, the Rosses, the Bucks, the Stevensons, the Bryants, the Grahams and many
others. Old Zelots Clifford, one of the most famous ministers of the Methodist
organization in Western Indiana, who organized as many classes, perhaps, as any
other divine, was one of the early ministers of this congregation, and it is
stated that he organized the class about 1845. The facts cannot be stated. Rev.
Clifford was in many respects a remarkable man. It is told of him, in a
neighboring county where he went to organize a class, that he had been
especially invited to appear there on a certain week day for that purpose. As
the time drew near, the few that had assembled, probably about a dozen, saw the
minister arrive on his tired horse, which he tied to a sapling, saw him take his
saddle-bags and throw them over his shoulder and walk toward the house. There
was nothing about his appearance to inspire any one with a belief either in his
piety or wisdom. He was slouchy, threadbare, insignificant in stature, homely in
feature, and to add to the general disappointment of his little congregation, he
seemed to feel his inferiority as far as appearances were concerned, for he
shuffled into the room without recognizing any one, threw his saddle-bags on the
floor, took out a Bible that had evidently seen hard service, and began reading
in a voice so low, puny and hesitating that more than one smile of disdain might
have been seen in his audience. He did not offer to open the exercises after the
usual custom with singing and prayer, but, as he advanced, his voice took a
firmer tone, his figure lost its bent and withered appearance, his eyes kindled
with earnest fire, and erelong his listeners were bent forward with eyes fixed
upon his face intently listening to every word that fell from his lips. He
finished the chapter, and then went on to point out the moral lesson he had
selected. After sweeping on for perhaps twenty minutes, he seemed not the same
man that had entered the room a short time before. His voice thundered, and his
eye, glowing with magnetic fire, was lustrous, and held his audience
spell-bound. He was eloquent, logical and extremely forcible, and the sentiments
uttered were of the purest piety and the noblest humanity. His audience were
wrought up to the highest pitch and cried with joy over the holy pictures of
Christian life and future happiness he so skillfully painted. The result was, he
immediately formed a flourishing class, and for years was their pastor.

   The Olive Branch Baptist Church in the northern part was organized about
1840, and the early membership was from the families of Isaac Mitchell, Andrew
Campbell, Jerry Davis, Samuel Bonham, David Bledsoe, David Owens, Abner Walters
and many others. After many years, the class was divided on doctrinal questions,
and from it two classes, the Olive Branch and the Salem grew. These endure to
this day, though the Olive Branch is the stronger. Each has a church. That of
the Olive Branch was erected about 1868, while the Salem class kept the old
building. Among the membership of the younger Olive Branch, in 1868 and later,
were the Beasleys, the Popes, the Dentons, the Fullams, the Lynns, the Ellises,
the Prices, the Adamses, the Truetts, the Stockrams, the Wolfords, the Claytons,
the Rooksberrys, the Uffermans, the Popes and others. The ministers of this
class have been James Blue, M. C. Clark, William McNutt, Wilson Trent, W. L.
Green, and none at present. The Samaria Baptist Church in the western part was
organized very early and their church was built just east of Dugger during the
forties. The early membership was from the families of the Mosses, the Ellises,
the Brewers, the Burges, the Rectors, the Kelleys and others. Aquilla Moss was
probably the organizer of this class not far from 1880. The German Lutheran
Church, northeast of Linton, was built in the fifties, and among the early
members were the families of Schlots, Bernes, Hoseman, Stretelmyer, Klink,
Bolton, Rosenrath, Goshen, Linderman, Stockram and others. The class yet exists.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF GREENE AND SULLIVAN COUNTIES,
STATE OF INDIANA,
FROM THE EARLIEST TIME TO THE PRESENT; TOGETHER WITH INTERESTING BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES, REMINISCENCES, NOTES, ETC.

ILLUSTRATED.

CHICAGO: GOODSPEED BROS. & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1884.

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