DARKE COUNTY OHIO - BIO: SIMONS, Henry  (published 1917)
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THE MAKING OF A TOWNSHIP
Being an Account of the Early Settlement and Subsequent Development of
FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP GRANT COUNTY, INDIANA 1829-1917
Edgar Baldwin Printing Company, 1917
Page 232, 233, 234

        HENRY SIMONS. Pioneer farmer, was a native of Bradford County,
Pennsylvania. His father, Adrial Simons, was born April 9, 1792, and died
February 26, 1876; his mother, Patsy (Merit) Simons, was born September 30,
1795, and died March 21, 1863. Henry Simons was persevering, industrious
and thrifty, and at the time of his death, March 31, 1902, owned one
hundred and sixty-five acres of good land. In politics he was a Republican.
he was a member of the New Light Church, and did much in the early days of
the Township, toward the organization and establishment of this
denomination. The influence of Henry Simons in his neighborhood was always
exerted for the best interests, both material and moral, of the community.

                        SIMONS FAMILY
                     (By John H. Simons)

        My father, Henry Simons, was born in Bradford County, Pennsylvania,
May 15, 1815. He moved, with his father, about the year 1819, to Darke
County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. In the summer of 1837, probably
July, he started West, on foot, to find some place to locate, where he
could make himself a home for the future. He walked to Grant County, where,
after spending some time looking for a location, he found eighty acres in
Section 36, Fairmount Township, which had not been taken of the Government.
Most of the land at that time which was thought to be of much account had
been entered or bought by people hunting for homes. It was so wet and
swampy that it was supposed to nearly worthless for agricultural purposes.
        After getting the description of the eighty acres, he started on
foot to the Land Office at Ft. Wayne. He went north through the wilderness,
traversing Grant and Huntington Counties, striking the canal at Lagro or
Huntington, after which he walked along the towpath used for the mules and
hoses pulling the canal boats. These boats conveyed the products of the
settlers to market, and bringing back such things as they could use. It
took about three days to make the trip from southern Grant County to Ft.
Wayne. Father said he never suffered from thirst more than he did while
walking on the towpath on his way to Ft. Wayne. There was plenty of water
in the canal, but it was not fit to drink, and the settlements, where he
could get a drink, were a great ways apart. After reaching Ft. Wayne, he
found the Land Office and closed up the deal for the eighty acres. He left
as payment for the land $100 in gold, which he had carried all the way on
his trip from Ohio. After his purchase was made, he started on the return
trip to Grant County, covering practically the same ground. Reaching the
farm, he put out a deadening, after which he returned to Ohio to earn money
and prepare to move to his newly acquired possessions.
        By the summer of 1840 he was prepared go go West, he having
previously married Phebe Thomas, who set out with him for Fairmount
Township. Their mode of travel was by horses and wagon. They brought all of
their possessions with them. They arrived at the home of their uncle,
Bingham Simons, who lived a mile north, in the edge of Jefferson Township.
        Leaving their goods at the home of their uncle, with the help of
the early settlers he set out to cut logs and build a house in which to
move his belongings. After three or four days they had logs cut and the
house built and a door cut through the wall. Then they were ready to move
into their own home. They were obliged to prop up clapboards to close the
doorway at night while they slept, the wolves howling on the outside of
their cabin.
        To Henry and Phebe (Thomas) Simons were born six children, five
sons and one daughter, namely, Jonathan, Martha Ann, Ransom Ellis, William
and Adrial. One infant child was buried in the Fankboner Graveyard in 1841.
Three others died of scarlet fever within one month of each other. William
and Adrial Simons are still living. William resides in Fairmount and Adrial
lives on his farm near the old home.
        Phebe Simons was born in 1820 and died February 3, 1852.
        In February, 1854, Henry Simons was united in marriage to Elizabeth
Ann (Walker) Parrill. To this union were born seven children, five sons and
two daughters, four of whom are living, namely, John H. Simons, Levi P.
Simons, Mata M. Buller, and D. Wilson Simons, Morris, Arthur, Walker and a
daughter having passed away in infancy.
        Mata Buller and her husband, Oliver buller, own the eighty acres
bought of the Government by my father. There never has been but the one
transfer made -the conveyance to Oliver and Mata Buller.
        Elizabeth (Parrill) Simons died on March 29, 1899.
        Henry Simons died March 31, 1902. He was the grandfather of
twenty-three children, seventeen still living. Donna Jean Simons, first
great-grandchild, daughter of Harry L. and Jessie Simons, was born on his
one hundredth anniversary.
        My great-grandfather, Adrial Simons, was a soldier in the
Revolutionary War.
        One of the first churches, if not the first, organized in the east
end of the Township was organized at my father's house in 1842. Among some
of the old records I have in my possession I find the following:
        "September the 26, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and forty-two. We this day at Henry Simons', unite ourselves
together as a branch of the Christian Church to take the Holy Scriptures as
our only rule of faith and practice, as we have hereunto set our names.
                                E.S. Parks

Samuel Todd          Elizabeth Todd        Sarah Ann Ervin
Henry Simons         Abraham Rader         Christopher Mittank
Anna M. Simons       Martha Jane Rader     Elizabeth Mittank
William Ervin
        This organization was called Barren Creek Christian Church. They
built a log church on my father's farm soon after this organization. The
pews were made by taking logs and splitting them and then they were hewn
off smooth on the flat side, then a hole bored on the rounding side and
wooden legs put in. They were then turned over and set in position ready
for occupancy. This organization was kept up for a number of years, until
better churches were built in the country nearby. Then the organization was
abandoned, but the old log church stood near a half century.


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