History Of Harrison Township Through 1882

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Harrison Township

This information is taken directly from Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana, F.A. Battey & Co., Publishers, 1883, reproduced by Unigraphic, Inc., 1970.

If you become confused while reading this, remember that the book was written in 1883.

Note from the webmaster: This book was written with a curious mixture of full titles and abbreviations, use of numerals and use of written numbers (i.e., 31 vs thirty-one). This information is copied as it appears in the book, so please excuse the apparent inconsistencies.

The author wrote in very long paragraphs, and it is confusing to read. Therefore, many of the long paragraphs have been divided into shorter ones.

Recording History

Better were it, almost, that a township, county or State had entirely been non-existent, if its history is forever to remain unwritten, and all its facts of historic merit are to sleep silently on and on through the cycles and epicycles of endless time, unnoticed and unknown; but for Pulaski County and her various townships respectively, the historian has come but in time to glean from the old and fast decaying records, and wrest from the memory of the aged and others such historical information as will attract the attention of the present passing generation, and be of more than a common or ordinary interest to those myriads of generations which will follow.

Origin Of Name

The name of Harrison Township dates back to the Harrison campaign (the log-cabin and hard-cider campaign) of 1840 and 1841, and was so called in honor of William Henry Harrison, President of the United States.

This township, as the territory comprising Harrison Township, existed until the year 1841 as a part of Monroe Township, being attached for purposes of a political nature until this period. At a meeting held in Winamac by the County Commissioners in March, 1841. Harrison Township was created, and to be henceforth distinct from Monroe Township. The boundary lines of Harrison are drawn with Tippecanoe Township on the north, Fulton County on the east, Van Buren Township on the south, and Monroe Township on the west.

Creation

The year 1854 (about) found quite a number of citizens residing in the northwestern part of the township petitioning the Board of Commissioners to be detached from Harrison Township, and to be attached to Monroe Township for all political and civil purposes, and at the same session of Commissioners’ Court it was ordered, in behalf of those petitioning, that all of Sections 6, 7 and 18, and the west half of Sections 5, 8 and 17, and all that portion of Section 19 lying west of the Tippecanoe River, be and is hereby attached to Monroe Township. This attachment has ever since remained a part of Monroe Township.

First Settlement

The first settlements made in the township were those known as the Mill Creek settlement, on Big and Small Mill Creeks, and the Bruce settlement, on Bruce’s Lake, near the eastern boundary of the township. Those who lived on either of the creeks above mentioned were known and distinguished as the “Millcreekers.”

These early and first settlements date back to the years 1838 and 1839, and 1840 and 1841. In the first two years mentioned, the following persons came from Ohio, or some of the Eastern States, and commenced the construction of their new homes in the then wild and distant West: Tilghman Hackett, Abraham Hatterbaugh, Solomon Whitson, Benjamin T. Ballinger, David Klinger and John Shuey.

In 1839, came E. T. Oliver, Joseph Oliver, Edward Gilliland, James Martin, Jonathan Washington, Michael Mowery, Joshua Turnpaugh, John Sutton, James Dempsey, Comfort Olds and others.

Samuel Ward, Sr., Samuel Ward, Jr., Thomas Dempsey, Robert Dempsey, William Cooper, Jethro New, G. S. Ward, Andrew Gants and John Lee came in 1840.

Henry Bruce, Stephen Bruce, Isaac Harrow and others came in 1841.

John P. Miller, Martin H. Venard, Milton Venard, George Conner, Jacob Decard, William Phillips and others came in 1842.

The majority of the persons who came to the township up to this time settled in the central or western parts.

Elections

At an election held in Monroe Township, while Harrison Township was yet attached to Monroe for election purposes, in 1840, the following men from Harrison Township voted: J. O. Holmes, E. T. Oliver, Moses R. Holmes, Jesse Klinger, Solomon Whitson, Benjamin Ballinger, Tilghman Hackett, Abraham Hatterbaugh, James Murphy, Jonathan Washington, Michael Mowery and Comfort Olds.

At the election of the county organization in the spring of 1839, Elijah T. Oliver received thirty-eight votes, and was elected Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Pulaski County. At the same election, Moses R. Holmes received fourteen for County Commissioner, but was not elected.

At an election held in Winamac in June, 1839, Abraham Hatterbaugh was elected Road Supervisor for both Congressional Townships; and at an election held at the same place in August of the same year, Benjamin T. Ballinger was elected Probate Judge of the county. It is seen from the returns of these elections that Harrison Township, or the territory which afterward composed the township, was recognized by the voters of the county as having its quota of influential and representative men.

Harrison Township was created by the County Commissioners at the March term in 1841, and at the first election held in the new township, at the house of Jonathan Washington, on the first Monday in April, 1841, the following men voted: Jonathan Washington, Isaac Sanders, Robert Dempsey, John Sutton, Thomas Dempsey, John Hackett, Michael Mowery, Benjamin Munson, Job J. Holmes, Moses R. Holmes, Luck Hackett, Abraham Hatterbaugh, Thomas B. Ward, Samuel Ward, Jr. Hiram Lunsford, James Gilliland, Runyon Compton, Benjamin T. Ballinger, Solomon Whitson, William Collins, Isaac Olds, Samuel Ward, Sr., Edward Gilliland and Joshua Turnpaugh.

The following vote was polled: Justice of the Peace, Samuel Ward, Sr., 13 votes; Comfort Olds, 11 votes. Constable, Michael Mowery, 13 votes; Job J. Homes, 11 votes. Road Supervisor, Jonathan Washington, 32 votes; Solomon Whitson, 14 votes; and Abraham Hatterbaugh, 10 votes. Overseers of the Poor, John Sutton, 14 votes; James Martin, 13 votes; Michael Munson, 11 votes; and Solomon Whitson 10 votes. Inspector of Elections, Edward Gilliland, 10 votes; and Samuel Ward, Jr., 9 votes. Fence Viewers, Comfort Olds, 13 votes; Thomas B. Ward, 13 votes; Samuel Ward, Sr., 9 votes; Michael Mowery, 6 votes; and Michael Munson, 1 vote. Inspector, Edward Gilliland; Judges, Samuel Ward and Solomon Whitson; Clerks, William Collins and Isaac Olds.

At an election held in the house of Jonathan Washington, in Harrison Township, in April, 1842, the following men voted: Samuel Ward, Sr., Nathaniel Roberts, James Dempsey, Robert Dempsey, Thomas Dempsey, Jonas Martin, Isaac Harrow, John Sutton, George W. Horine, Jonathan Washington, Stephen Sutton, Samuel Ward, Jr., Joshua Turnpaugh, Martin H. Venard, Michael Mowery, Thomas B. Ward and Edward Gilliland.

First Land Purchases

Elijah T. Oliver is supposed to have been the first man who purchased land in Harrison Township, the same purchase being made on the 5th of February, 1839, and in Section 30, the amount being 165 acres.

The following are among the first who purchased land in the township: Jonathan Washington, in Section 27, 160 acres, December 17, 1840; Jesse Klinger, in Section 30, 142 acres, August 25, 1840; Moses R. Holmes, in Section 30, 146 acres, June 20, 1840; Samuel Ward, Jr., in Section 22, 160 acres, May 3, 1841.

In the years 1843 and 1844, quite a number of persons came into the township, and most of them purchased land and at once began the improvement of their new homes.

The following are among the deceased pioneers of Harrison Township: Samuel Ward, Sr., John Sutton, Michael Mowery, Thomas R. Ward, Samuel Ward, Jr., Martin H. Venard and Andrew Gantz. Among these yet living may be mentioned the following: G. S. Ward, James Tobey, Henry Bruce, Allen Miller, William Ballinger, Milton Venard, and a few others.

Incidents

Harrison Township, not unlike its adjoining townships, had its almost unnumbered scenes of hardship, peril and trial; and many of the new-comers were compelled to bring to bear all the care, inventive power and good management they possessed to “get along,” and to be able to do battle with all the conflicting circumstances of an early Western life; but the pioneers of Harrison Township were men of untiring energy and dauntless courage, and triumphed over all the opposing forces to a successful life and comfortable home.

Time has brought its changes. The rude log cabin has long since been exchanged for a better house; the large and well-filled frame barn has taken the place of the shed stable; the “little old log schoolhouse” is now unknown, and numerous and commodious frame schoolhouses exist in the township, and the old pioneer is himself led to exclaim, “Whence and how these changes?”

Thomas Turnpaugh, son of Joshua and Martha (familiarly known as Patsy) Turnpaugh, is supposed to have been the first white child born in the township. Joshua Turnpaugh, Jr., who died in the spring of 1842, is supposed to have been the first white person deceased in the township. The funeral sermon was preached at the house of Joshua Turnpaugh, by an early traveling Methodist preacher by the name of Abraham Sneathen. The funeral was attended by nearly every adult in the township.  The remains were interred in what was known as Hackett’s Graveyard.

The occasion is more particularly remembered by having connected with it an uncommon incident which ran as follows: A man, by name Isaac Sanders, was so eager to hear the funeral discourse that he walked four miles barefooted (boots he owned not, and shoes the poor man did not have), and when he came near the house where the deceased lay, a sense of shame or bashfulness overcame him, when he realized that he as compelled to attend the exercises barefooted, but the unpleasant thought was dispelled when he remembered and removed, from an inner pocket, a pair of long, white stockings, of the cotton quality, that he had provided himself with before he left home. He donned the stockings and attended the funeral, but many and long years had passed ere the white-stocking-man was forgotten.

The first marriage in the township occurred on the 25th of April, 1842, with Isaac Sanders and Elizabeth Canfield as the matrimonial contractors. The ceremony was conducted by Samuel Ward, Justice of the Peace.

Harrison Township has two places of public burial, one located on the northwest corner Section 28, and known as Sutton’s Graveyard, the ground being donated by John Sutton; and the other and principal place of interment in the township is located on the northwest quarter of Section 34, and is known as Olive Branch Cemetery. The ground was given by Edward Gilliland.

The first divines in the township were Eventus Doud, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who preached the first sermon in the township, at the log cabin of James Martin, in the spring of 1840; and Abraham Sneathen, of the Old Christian Church; and Ephraim Dukes and William Hunter, of the Disciple Church. These ministers traveled their wilderness way on horseback, and preached in many country cabins, and endured numberless hardships.

Church

The only church in the township is the Olive Branch Methodist Episcopal, located on the southwest quarter of Section 27, Township 20 north, or Range 1 west; thence north nine rods; thence east nine rods; thence south nine rods; thence west nine rods to the place of beginning. The lot contains eighty-one square rods. The county records of 1850 give the returns of the election of the first trustees of the church as follows:

Methodist Episcopal Church on Mill Creek, Pulaski County, Ind. Election return. After ten days’ notice given, there was an election held at the house of James Martin, in Harrison Township, Pulaski County, Ind., on the 22nd of February, 1850, for the purpose of electing three trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, whereupon James Martin, Wesley Borders and John K. Benifield were elected Clerk of said election. The society determined to get its trustees according to the rules of the Methodist Episcopal Church hereafter. February 22, 1850. Wesley Borders, Clerk.

The building is a frame, 26x36, and was commenced in the spring of 1849, and the frame-work completed and placed in position, and allowed to remain in this condition until late in the fall of 1850, when work on the church was again resumed and the building soon completed. The dedicatorial sermon, preached by Rev. Eventus Doud, is mentioned by old pioneers as being one of much power.

The estimated cost of the sanctuary was $500, $300 of which was raised by Rev. Doud on the day of dedication. The organization consisted of fifty members at the time of the completion of the church. The members of that church have been preached to by the following ministers in the order named, commencing with the first: Revs. Eventus Doud, Bradley, Hatfield, Adel, Utter, Forbes, Wood, Newhouse, Beach, Sanders, Conner, Tar, Hinge, McKenzie, Beal, Crone, Cox, Reader, Langley, W. W. Jones, Vought, Bruner, and Sanders, the present pastor.

The Presiding Elders who have held quarterly conference in this church since its founding occur in about the following order, beginning with the first: Revs. Graham, Westlake, Webb, Good, Marsey, Burgner, Michael, Utter, Cooper, Cissel, and Beck, the present presiding minister. The society has a present membership of about sixty. For many years there has been a Sabbath school held at this place, with a fluctuating attendance of from forty to seventy pupils.

Schools

The first school in the township (a sixty day’s term) was taught in the rude log cabin of Martin H. Venard in the winter of 1843 and 1844, with Mr. Venard as schoolmaster. The second was taught by Miss Mary Collins in the same house, and the third by Martin H. Venard. Mr. Venard was a good scholar and took much interest in the education of his and other children. The schools that Mr. Venard taught were wholly unremunerative to him in a financial point of view.

The fist schoolhouse in Harrison Township was a hewed-log building, 24x36 feet, erected (as nearly as can be ascertained) in the year 1848, on the northwest quarter of Section 34. In 1849, two schoolhouses were built, one on Section 32, and the other in the southeastern part of the township.

The Greenland Schoolhouse in the Bruce settlement was erected in 1853. In 1859, four frame schoolhouses were built.

There are now eight frame schoolhouses in the township, the last one having been erected in 1880. The following is a list of the teachers who taught in the various districts in the township in 1867: District No. 1, W. E. Ward; District No. 2, Lu E. Moore; District No. 3, William McJohnson; District No. 4, St. Clair Wildermuth; District No. 5, A. M. Ward; District No. 6, G. R. Allen, and District No. 7, Adelaide Agnew.

The teachers in the schools of the township for the school year of 1882, are as follows: District No. 1, J. H. Barker; No. 2, John Starr, No. 3, Jacob Willhelm; No. 4, William Fahler, No. 5, Calip Barker; No. 6, William Jackson; No. 7, Rachael Wents; No. 8, Earnest Helm.

The average per diem for the teachers of 1882, is $1.80. The whole number of pupils admitted to the schools of 1882, in the township, is 261. The total estimated value of school property in 1882, is $2,500.

In the first quarter of a century of the school history of Harrison Township, the records were illy kept, and the following is but one of the many evidences proving that such was the case. In 1861, William R. Ballinger was elected Township Trustee, and when the preceding Trustee came to make his final report to Mr. Ballinger, it was, that he had so much good money and so much bad money on hand without a record of any kind to show what the money was to be used for.

Bridge

The only bridge in the township of importance is the new iron one built across Big Bill Creek, at Mooresburg. The same was erected in 1882, by the Canton Ohio Bridge Company, at a cost of about $2,000. The bridge is fifty feel long and carefully built.

Mooresburg Mill

In the year 1841, Jonathon Washington began the construction of the first grist mill in the township, on what is known as Big Mill Creek. The mill is located on the southwest quarter of Section 27, Township 30, Range 1 west. The next year found the enterprise only partially completed, but sufficient for grinding corn; and it was not until the fall of 1843 that the mill was wholly built and ready for flour-making.

The building was erected on the dam, directly over the main channel of the stream which occasioned the construction of a mill-race wholly unnecessary. One set of stone was used in the mill the first four years, when the business had increased to such an extent that another set was needed, and added.

The interest contained under the management of Mr. Washington until 1846, when it was sold to James Moore, who conducted the business about three years, when he died, and the property passed into the hands his sons, Douglas L., Thomas M., and Ephraim R. Moore, who controlled the business until the spring of 1853, when Douglas Died, and Thomas and Ephraim became sole proprietors.

In the fall of 1853, the mill burned, was rebuilt again in 1855 by Ephraim Moore, and in the fall of that year W. K. Murphy purchased a one-half interest, and under the firm name of Moore & Murphy the business continued until July, 1863, when Moore died, and the interest passed through the hands of Newton Mullins, Albert G. Aikens, John Clary, and finally rests in the hands of G. W. Hastings and wife.

The dam was partially washed away, some years since, and has never been rebuilt. The mill at one time was a good one for its day.

Wey’s Mill

The erection of the second grist mill in the township dates back to about the year 1854, when Thomas and Ephraim Moore (brothers) began building on Big Mill Creek, on the northwest quarter of Section 29, Township 30, Range 1 west, what is known as Wey’s Mill. This, like the Mooresburg Mill, is also erected on the main channel of the stream, and has thereby saved the cost of the construction and keeping in repair a mill race.

This property has been owned and successfully conducted by the following persons in the order named: William Benifield and Milton Venard, Milton Venard, P. K. Kroft and Elias Way the present proprietor.

At this mill are used two sets of stone, and the excellent quality of four made here has gained a reputation that extends far beyond the limits of Harrison Township or the boundaries of Pulaski County.

Saw Mill

The only stationary mill of this kind in the history of the township was one built on Mill Creek, by Joseph Tunis about twelve years ago. The project was of exceedingly meager proportions, considered only as a “one-horse” affair, and after sawing a few hundred feet of lumber the proprietor abandoned the project, declaring the saw mill business unprofitable. The saw used was the up-and-down kind.

Roads

The highways in Harrison Township remained very crooked and wholly unimproved until the spring of 1860, when the work of straightening, and as far as possible, placing them upon section lines, and improving them was commenced, but there was not much done in this direction until after the close of the war, about the year 1866, when the work was re-commenced with much energy and great vigor, and was continued until a majority of the roads in the township were placed upon regularly surveyed lines and much improved.

Mooresburg

Mooresburg is supposed to have been so called in honor of the many Moores who lived in the neighborhood. It never was known as a village, but rather, as a thickly-settled country settlement.

There was a post office established here in 1848, which was continued ten years. Douglas L. Moore was the first Postmaster, Samuel Ward the second, and Collins Doud, the third, who was serving at the time of the discontinuation of the office in 1858.

Through the influence of D. W. Hastings and others, there was a post office established here again in 1876, and has continued ever since. Mr. Hastings has been Postmaster since the reestablishment of the office. This office is on the mail route leading from Winamac to Kewanna in Fulton County. The mail arrives and departs three times each week from the Mooresburg Post Office.

Jonathan Washington had a small store in the settlement at one time. The date could not be ascertained. In 1853 or 1854, the vicinity possessed two stores, one owned by Thomas Moore and Richard Richardson, and the other by Abraham Phillips. The store owned by Moore & Richardson burned in the year 1855. These industries were all short-lived and soon discontinued.

Notes And Incidents

Edward Gilliland, Stephen Sutton, John Sutton and Joshua Turnpaugh were the pioneer hunters and fishers in the township.

It was a custom in the early days of Harrison Township for the inhabitants to go fishing regularly every three weeks. In one day they could catch enough fish to last them for three weeks, or until the next regular fishing day. On venison from the wild wood, honey from the tree, and fish from the stream, the pioneer families subsisted. It is reported that there were in early times what was known as the ague-seasons, and in those seasons there were scarcely enough well persons to attend the wants of those who were ill with the “shaky disease,” as they termed it.

So scarce was the hay and feed for cattle in March, 1842, that all sorts of means were resorted to keep the stock from starving. It is related of Mrs. Sarah Venard, that she took the hay out of the bed ticks for feed for her cows, and would also boil corn-cobs, and mash them so that the cattle would eat them.

Accidental Death

One of the most striking incidents of death by accident known to Harrison Township history occurred in June, 1855. The incident is related by an old settler, and, in substance, is as follows: On a hot June afternoon in 1855, James Helm and others were working on the road, near where Helm lived; and, in conversation that afternoon, Helm remarked, that he could jump hell, and dodge lightning, and that night he was instantly killed by lightning while asleep. Mrs. Helm was not killed, but was so badly burned that she could not walk, and was compelled to crawl to the house of a neighbor (eighty rods distant), and inform them of the ill fate of her husband. A plain marble slab in the Star City Cemetery marks the spot where the remains were interred, and upon that stone are the following inscriptions and lines,

JAMES HELM
Died June 16th, 1855.
Remember now, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I;
But, as I am now, so you shall be,
Prepare for death and follow me.

Another incident of more than common occurrence is related as follows: On Friday morning in the spring of 1844, Mrs. James Tobey, after looking carefully about the premises for her little five-year-old, Caroline, hastened (much excited) to a field (the nearest source for aid) where Andrew and James R. Dukes were plowing, and told them that Caroline was lost.

James R. Dukes (the elder of the two boys) mounted his horse and went to Winamac to convey to Mr. Tobey the intelligence concerning his little daughter. Mr. Tobey, who had left home early in the morning for Winamac, could not be found. The supposition is that little Caroline, who as very anxious to accompany her father, had followed him, and soon became lost in the wood.

The excitement over the missing child became intense. Many people searched for the lost little girl, but their searching was in vain. Night and day the search continued until Monday morning, little Caroline was found in the midst of a marsh or marshy prairie, about one mile and a half from her home, by Stephen Bruce, who was crossing the marsh on his way to the house of the lost Caroline to join the fourth days’ eager search.

Caroline Tobey (now Mrs. Scott) is yet living, and is ever pleased to talk of the time when she was the lost little girl of six summers. The story goes that the reason Mr. Tobey could not be found by Mrs. Dukes on that Friday morning, was because that he (Tobey) had gone up the Tippecanoe River with a hook and line on a fishing excursion.

Spring Election

At an election held at Centre Schoolhouse on the first Monday in April, 1882, the following vote was polled: For Justice of the Peace, W. K. Murphy received 85 votes, and Hiram Rerick, 71 votes; for Trustee, John F. Borders, 95 votes, and Isaac Baker, 65 votes; for Assessor, John Crane, 70 votes, and Samuel Bires, 78; for Constable, Joseph Williams, 82 votes, John Jenkins, 80 votes, Lawrence Hartlesode, 77 votes, and Beneville Bruce, 72 votes; for Road Supervisor, Luman Smith, 88 votes, and George R. Taylor, 87. Inspector, David Herri; Judges, N. W. Scott and I. B. Hood; Clerks, J. V. Wilhelm and J. H. Watts.

Politics

Harrison Township, politically, has always been Republican, and has cast Republican majorities of from twenty to sixty ever since the organization of the party, and to-day, Harrison is the banner Republican Township in the county. From the log-cabin and hard-cider campaign of 1840, until the Garfield campaign in 1880, Harrison Township was solidly Republican on all State and National questions.