return to Township Histories

WAYNE TOWNSHIP

The township of Wayne is the central one in the western range of townships of Marion County. On the north it is bounded by the township of Pike; on the east by Centre; on the south by Decatur township, and on the west by Hendricks County. The only streams of any importance in the township are White River, and Eagle and Little Eagle Creeks. The former barely touches the township on its eastern border, where, in ita meanderings, it enters from Centre, and immediately afterwards returns to the same township. Eagle Creek, flowing in a southerly direction from Pike township, enters Wayne in the northwest, traverses the township diagonally in a very meandering course to the southeast corner, touching the southwest corner of Centre and then entering the northeast point of Decatur township, where it joins its waters with those of the White River. Little Eagle Creek, coming from the north, crosses the boundary between Pike and Wayne, and flows southwardly across the eastern part of the latter township, to a point near its southeastern corner, where the stream enters Eagle Creek.

Several of the railway lines diverging from Indianapolis cross the territory of Wayne. The Indianapolis and Vincennes road is the most southern of these, traversing the township only a short distance across its southeastern corner. Next, north, is the Vandalia line, which crosses the southern half of the township in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction. The Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad crosses Wayne in nearly an east and west direction, near the centre of the township. The Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway runs across the north part of the township to a point near its northwest corner, where it passes into Hendricks County.

Three small towns or villages lie within the territory of Wayne township. Of these, Bridgeport is located in the southwest part of the township, on the old National road, and also on the line of the Vandalia Railroad. The village of Clermont is in the northwest corner of the township, on the line of the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway; and on the south line of the township, near its southeast corner, is the village of Maywood, located on the line of the Vincennes Railroad. The population of the township by the United States census of 1880 was four thousand seven hundred and seventy-two.

Wayne, with the other townships of Marion County, was set oflF, and its boundaries defined, by order of the board of county commissioners, on the 16th of April, 1822, and on the same date the board ordered that Wayne and Pike be temporarily joined together in one township organization, and for judicial purposes, the union to continue until each township should become sufficiently populous for a separate organization. They remained joined in this manner for more than two years, and on the 10th of May, 1824, the commissioners ordered Pike to be separated from Wayne
and independently organized, "the inhabitants being sufficiently numerous" in the former township; the inference, therefore, being that they were still more numerous in Wayne than in Pike.

Following is a list of persons appointed or elected to the principal offices of Wayne township from its erection to the present time, viz.:

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Abraham Hendricks, June 15, 1822, to December, 1825; removed.
Isaac Stephens, June 22, 1822, to February, 1824; removed.
Jeremiah J. Corbaley, May 10, 1824, to March 29, 1829.
William Logan, Feb. 8, 1825, to Nov. 4, 1828; resigned.
James Johnson, Jan. 3, 1829, to Jan 3, 1834.
Jeremiah J. Corbaley, May 4, 1829, to April 6, 1834.
James Johnson, Feb. 24, 1834, to Aug. 4, 1838; resigned.
James W. Johnson, June 7, 1834, to June 7, 1839.
Allen Jennings, June 18, 1834, to June 18, 1839.
Martin Martindale, Sept. 8, 1838, to Oct. 12, 1843; died.
James W. Johnston, Oct. 8, 1839, to Oct. 8, 1844.
John W. Mattero, March 19, 1840, to March 19, 1845.
William Taylor, Dec. 1, 1843, to March 29, 1844; resigned.
Thomas Morrow, May 11, 1844, to May 11, 1854.
George Hoover, Nov. 19, 1844, to Nov. 19, 1849.
Robert Taylor, March 10, 1846, to April 30, 1846; resigned.
Jesse Pugh, Nov. 20, 1849, to March 6, 1851; resigned.
Oliver P. Meeker, April 15, 1850, to Oct. 12, 1850; resigned.
Alexander Jameson, April 19, 1851, to April 18, 1865.
Daniel Catterson, April 19, 1851, to Nov. 8, 1851; died.
Patrick Catterson, Feb. 11, 1853, to Sept. 18, 1855; resigned.
John P. Martindale, May 1], 1854, to Feb. 23, 1857; resigned.
Alexander Jameson, Nov. 8, 1855, to Nov, 7, 1859.
Ransom Wooten, April 2.% 1856, to Feb. 26, 1857; resigned.
Isaiah Hornaday, April 17, 1857, to March 1, 1860; resigned.
Henley H. Mercer, April 18, 1857, to April 17, 1861.
Sylvester T. Zimmerman, Nov. 6, 1858, to May 24, 1859; resigned.
Alfred Clark, July 23, 1859, to March 8, 1860; resigned.
Hiram Rhoads, Nov. 7, 1859, to Nov. 7, 1867.
John B. Johnson, April 17, 1860, to March 6, 1862; resigned.
George MoCray, April 21, I860, to March 27, 1862; resigned.
Richard W.Thompson, June 19, 1862, to Nov. 8, 1869; resigned.
Robert McFarland, April 23, 1863, to Dec. 30, 1864; resigned.
John P. Martindale, April 14, 1866, to April 14, 1870.
William W. Webb, April 18, 1868, to April 18, 1872.
John T. Turpin, Oct. 25, 1870, to March 6, 1877; died.
Gazaway Sullivan, Oct. 25, 1872, to Oct. 25, 1876.
Leonard Avery, Oct. 28, 1872, to Oct. 21, 1876.
Apollo S. Ingling, Oct. 25, 1876, to Oct. 25, 1880.
Leon S. Avery, Feb. 24, 1877, to June 7, 1880; resigned.
William A. Davidson, March 26, 1877, to April 9, 1878.
James T. Morgan, April 9, 1878, to April 9, 1882.
Jacob A. Emerich, June 7, 1880, to Oct. 25, 1884.
William A. Davidson, April 25, 1882, to April 25, 1886.
Ezra G. Martin, June 23, 1883, to April 14, 1884.
 
TRUSTEES.  
Joseph Ballard, April 11, 1859, to April 21, 1860.
William N. Gladden, April 21, 1860, to April 16, 1861.
John H. Harris, April 16, 1861, to April 18, 1863.
Edward Dunn, April 18, 1863, to April 16, 1864.
Alexander Jameson, April 16, 1864, to Oct. 21, 1872.
Lazarus R. Harding, Oct. 21, 1872, to March 13, 1876.
Jesse Wright, March 13, 1876, to April 16, 1880.
Hiram W. Miller, April 16, 1880, to April 19, 1882.
William H. Speer, April 19, 1882, for 2 years.
 
ASSESSORS.  
James Johnson, Jan. 1, 1827, to Jan. 5, 1829.
William Logan, Jan. 5, 1829, to Jan. 3, 1831.
Asa B. Strong, Jan. 3, 1831, to Jan. 7, 1833.
William Logan, Jan. 7, 1833, to Jan. 6, 1834.
Abraham H. Dawson, Jan. 6, 1834, to Jan. 4, 1836.
Alexander Fclton, Jan. 4, 1836, to March 7, 1836.
Abraham H. Dawson, March 7, 1836, to Jan. 1, 1838.
Aqnilla Hilton, Jan. 1, 1838, to Jan. 7, 1839.
Asa B. Strong, Jan. 7, 1839, to Jan. 6, 1840.
W. Miller, Jan. 6, 1840, to Jan. 4, 1841.
Abraham H. Dawson, Jan. 4, 1841, to Dec. 6, 1841.
Hiram Wright, Nov. 20, 1852, to Dec. 17, 1853.
John Vansickle, Dec. 17, 1853, to Nov. 25, 1854.
William N. Gladden, Nov. 25, 1854, to Jan. 1, 1857.
John W. Larimore, Jan. 1, 1857, to Oct. 27, 1858.
John B. Corbaley, Oct. 27, 1858, to Oct. 29, 1860.
Martin B. Warfel, Oct. 29, 1860, to Dec. 24, 1864.
Abraham H. Dawson, Dec. 24, 1864, to Oct. 29, 1870.
Conrad Brian, Oct. 29, 1870, to Aug. 1, 1873.
Ezekiel M. Thompson, March 25, 1875, to Oct. 18, 1876.
Conrad Brian, Oct. 18, 1876, to April 14, 1884.
 

The first settlements within the territory of Wayne township were made in 1821, from which time they increased slowly, though steadily, and with more rapidity than those in the eastern townships of the county. Among the earliest of the settlers upon lands in Wayne township were the Corbaley and Barnhill families, who came from Ohio to this county in 1820, first making a temporary settlement within the limits of the present city of Indianapolis, where they spent the sickly summers of 1820 and 1821, then removed westward to Wayne township, where they became permanent settlers.

Jeremiah J. Corbaley, one of the most widely known and respected inhabitants of Wayne township for nearly a quarter of a century, was a native of the State of Delaware, but grew to manhood in Cecil County, Md. At the age of twenty-seven (in the year 1816) he went West, as far as Hamilton, Ohio, having with him his portion of his father's estate, about six hundred dollars in cash, which he deposited with a merchant of Hamilton, who failed soon afterwards, thus leaving him almost entirely without means. He was not, however, discouraged by his loss, but went resolutely to work to earn a livelihood. In 1819 he married Jane, the eldest daughter of Robert Barnhill, who then resided near Hamilton, and in March, 1820, the families of Barnhill and Corbaley migrated to Marion County, Ind., where they settled just outside the donation, near the site of the City Hospital of Indianapolis, on land afterwards owned by the late Samuel J. Patterson. There, in a log house, on the 7th of August, 1820, was born Richard, the first child of Jeremiah and Jane Corbaley, and who is said to have been also the first white child born in Marion County.

On account of the prevailing sickness which afflicted nearly all the settlers at that time, and also by reason of the death of Robert Barnhill in 1821*, Mr. Corbaley, with his wife and young son, and the widow and family (who were numerous, and nearly all adults) of Mr. Barnhill, removed from the vicinity of Indianapolis to lands which they had purchased on Eagle Creek in Wayne township, where Mr. Corbaley settled on the northeast quarter of section 28, township 16, range 2, and became, at once, one of the most prominent citizens of Wayne. He was a magistrate for many years, and in that capacity and position caused the amicable settlement of many disputes among the people of the township, and was in general the adviser and business man of his neighbors through all his life. One of the official positions which he held was that of commissioner appointed by the Legislature to locate the seats of justice of Clinton and Fulton Counties. During the time (nearly twenty-three years) of his residence in Wayne township he cleared about eighty acres of his lands there, and purchased about four hundred acres in Marshall County, of this State. He died Jan. 11, 1844.

Mr. and Mrs. Corbaley reared ten children, viz.: Richard, Sarah, Emily, John B., Mary C, James J., Samuel B., Eliza J., Robert C, and William H. Corbaley, all of whom had reached maturity and were married before the death of their mother, April 7, 1870. Three of them have since died. One of the sons, Samuel B. Corbaley, born at the homestead in Wayne township, Feb. 17, 1834, is a prominent citizen of Indianapolis, in which city he has resided for more than twenty years.

The family of Robert Barnhill and his wife consisted of twelve children, viz.: Samuel, John, William, Daniel, Robert, James, Hugh, Jane, Katie, Sally, Nancy, and Mary, — who became Mrs. Speer, and mother of William H. Speer, one of the most prominent citizens of the township. The widow of Robert Barnhill moved with her family (as before stated) to Wayne township soon after the death of her husband, and in 1829 she was assessed on eighty acres of land in the township, described as the southeast quarter of section 22, township 16, range 2. She married a second husband, Jacob Whitinger. Her sons, Robert and Hugh Barnhill, are now living near the north line of the county.

John Barnhill, born in 1796, came to Marion County about 1823, and located on land in Wayne township. In 1829 he was assessed on the northwest quarter of section 27, township 16, range 2. He had several daughters, of whom Sarah, Beulah, and Ann are now living. His son, J. C. Barnhill, lives in Wayne township, and is one of its well-known citizens.

The Harding family, from Washington County, Ky.,were also among the earliest emigrants to Marion County, Ind. Robert and Martha Harding, both natives of Pennsylvania, and emigrants to Kentucky, were married about the close of the Revolutionary war, and became the parents of twelve children, viz.: John, Eliakim, Ede, Robert, Samuel, Israel, Laban, Ruth, Avis, Sarah, Martha, and Jemima. In the spring of 1820, Mrs. Harding, then a widow, came to Marion County with her children, excepting two of her sons who had preceded her, and two who came afterwards. The family  settled first on the "donation" tract, just outside the town of Indianapolis, and built the first dwelling (a log cabin) erected on the banks of White River, in Marion County. The log house of Robert Harding (who was a married man, and lived separate from the rest of the family) was located on the bluiF bank, just north of the east end of the National road bridge, as described by Mr. Nowland,** who also says that Robert Harding's second son, Mordecai, was the first white child born on the donation.

Mrs. Martha Harding, widow of Robert Harding, Sr., and mother of the large family referred to, died in 1841. She owned a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Wayne township, near Eagle Creek, and three of her sons — -Ede, Samuel, and Israel Harding — were resident tax-payers in Wayne in 1829, as shown by the assessment-roll of the township for that year. Samuel Harding's land is described on that list as the northeast quarter of section 6, in survey-township 15, range 3; that of Ede Harding, as the northwest quarter of the same section, being directly west of the farm of his brother Samuel; and Israel Harding's land as the southeast quarter of section 5, in the same survey-township.

Ede Harding was born in Washington County, Ky., March 16, 1792, and in his youth (1805) removed with the family to Butler County, Ohio, where he attended a backwoods school for a short time during each of several successive winters, having had no educational advantages whatever in his native State. In 1816 he married Mary Robinson, and removed to Fayette County, Ind., where he purchased and cleared a small tract of land. This he afterwards traded for land in Wayne township, Marion Co., and came to his new purchase in 1821, though he did not bring his family until February of the following year. After a long, useful, and honorable life, he died, in January, 1876. Mrs. Harding died in 1857. One of their sons, Oliver Harding, is living at Danville, Ill. Another son (John) and two of their daughters (Lavinia and Sarah) reside in Hendricks County, Ind. Laban Harding, the eldest son of Ede and Mary Harding, was born in Fayette County, Oct. 17, 1817, and came in childhood with his parents to Wayne township, where he is now owner of a fine farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres, located on sections 20 and 21, of survey-township 16, range 3, about six miles from Indianapolis. He was married in December, 1837, to Jemima McCray, and they became the parents of eleven children, of whom seven are now living.

Samuel Harding, son of Robert and brother of Ede Harding, was born in Washington County, Ky., in 1795. He removed with other members of the family to Butler County, Ohio. Some years afterwards he went with his brother Ede to Fayette County, Ind., and emigrated thence, in February, 1820, to Marion County, where the family located, first on the banks, of the White River as before mentioned. Thence he removed to his lands in Wayne township, a mile west of where the Insane Asylum now is. In 1824 he was married to Jeremiah Johnson's daughter Jane, with whom he lived for forty years. She died in 1864. They had ten children, of whom four are now living. Samuel Harding was prominent in the Baptist Church, and a member of the Indiana Legislature in 1846-47. He died in 1874.

Israel Harding, brother of Ede and Samuel Harding, was also a native of Washington County, Ky., born in 1798. His farm in Wayne township was that where William H. Speer (his son-in-law) now lives. He was married about 1825 to Nancy Johnson, daughter of Jeremiah Johnson, and sister of his brother Samuel's wife. Israel Harding was, like his brother Samuel, a prominent member of the Baptist Church. He served as a member of the Indiana Legislature in 1841, and was a candidate for re-election, but died in July, 1842. His widow survived him nearly thirty-nine years, and died in June, 1881.

Obadiah Harris, who was a well-known citizen of Wayne township for more than half a century, was born in Guilford County, N. C, Feb. 5, 1789. At the age of eighteen he emigrated to Ohio, and less than a year afterwards (in the fall of 1807) pushed on to Wayne County, Ind., where he remained nearly fifteen years, and in 1822 removed to Wayne township, Marion County, where he settled on a farm located on the National road, near the site of the Insane Asylum, described as the west half of the northeast quarter and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 9, survey-
township 15, range 3, on which he reared one of the earliest and best apple-orchards in the county, and on which he lived till his death, April 2, 1875. He was famed as a skillful hunter, was a widely-known and highly-respected man, and was once elected to the Indiana Legislature, in which body he served creditably.

Mr. Harris was married, in December, 1811, in Wayne County, Ind., to Sarah Lewis, of the same county. They became the parents of eight children, viz.: Hannah, born in November, 1812; Avis, March, 1815; Betsey, January, 1817; Lewis, February, 1819; Benjamin, September, 1822; John Harvey, January, 1824; Nancy, January, 1827; and Naomi, born May 19, 1832. The mother of these children died in November, 1842. In 1842, Mr. Harris married Ruth Huff, who is still living. One of Mr. Harris' daughters (Mrs. Carpenter) is still living on the homestead. Another (Mrs. Andrew
Wilson) lives in the southeast part of the township. His son, John Harvey, died recently in Kansas.

Asa B. Strong, who was a highly-respected citizen and often filled responsible public offices during the period of more than fifty years that he lived after becoming a settler in Wayne township, was born in Addison County, Vt., Sept. 28, 1799. In 1821 he, with an older brother, emigrated to Ohio, and thence, in the fall of 1822, he moved with his family in an ox-wagon to Marion County, Ind., arriving at Indianapolis on the 14th of November. The land on which he settled in Wayne township is described in the assessment-roll of 1829 as the southwest quarter of section 27, township 16, range 2. He was four times married: first, at Oxford, Ohio, in April, 1822, to Frances Shurtleff, who died Sept. 19, 1836; second, in April, 1837, to Sarah Ballard, who died in 1845; third, in January, 1849, to Margaret Ballard, who died in March, 1852; and fourth, in January, 1856, to Emily Sanders, who died in November, 1867. Mr. Strong had eight children by the first marriage, four by the second, and one by the third, his last marriage being childless. He died Feb. 14, 1873. His sons, Samuel P., John T., and Asa M., are still living; also several of his daughters, among the latter being Mrs. Charles Murray, of Indianapolis.

Robert, Richard, and Jacob Helvey were among the earliest of those who came to Wayne township, though it does not appear that they were among the original land-owners, as in the assessment-roll of 1829 they were not so classed, and they then paid only a poll-tax except Jacob, who was assessed on two horses and two oxen. Robert Harding [Helvey] was known through all the region near and far as a great fiddler. Mr. Nowland*** mentions him as “Old Helvey," and says he “lived on the school section (No. 16) west of Eagle Creek, and near what was called the 'big raspberry patch.' His house was the headquarters for dances and sprees of all kinds. He made it a point to invite all the newcomers on first sight to visit him." It appears that Helvey had several fine, robust daughters, whose presence was not among the least of the attractions which brought visitors to their father's house. Concerning these and “Old Helvey's" estimate of them, Mr. Nowland makes the father say, “Thar's no such gals in the settlement as old Helvey's! Thar's Bash (Bathsheba), and Vine, and Tantrabogus, and the like o' that. I'll tell ye, stranger, that Bash is a boss. I would like you to come over and take a rassle with her. She throwed old 'Liakim Harding best two in three; 'tother was a dog-fall, but Bash soon turned him and got on top on him. . . . I'll tell ye, stranger, that gal Bash killed the biggest buck that's been killed in the New Purchase. She shot off-hand seventy-five yards. He was a real three-spikcr, no mistake." With regard to the peculiarities of “Old Helvey," Mr. Nowland says, “He distinguished himself in many hotly-contested battles at Jerry Collins' grocery, and never failed to vanquish his adversary, and fairly won the trophies of war, which were generally an eye, a piece of an ear, a part of a finger, or a slice of flesh from some exposed part of his antagonist's person. In Mr. Helvey's house could be found a great variety of munitions of war, such as rifles, shot-guns, muskets, tomahawks, scalping- and butcher-knives. In his yard were all kinds of dogs, from the surly bull-dog to the half-wolf, or 'Injun dog.' In his pound, or stable, was a variety of Indian ponies. . . . After the treaty with the Miamis of the Wabash, at the mouth of Little River, in the year 1832, Mr. Helvey moved to the treaty-ground, and there died."

James M. McClelland came with his father's family to settle within the boundaries of Wayne before it had been set off as a separate township. He was born in Dickson County, Tenn., in December, 1807, and in the fall of 1814 emigrated with the family to Union County, Ind., whence, in February, 1822, they moved to Marion County. In April, 1833, James M. McClelland was married to Anna, the eldest daughter of Jesse Johnson. Their children were two who died in infancy, and seven others, viz.: Mary J., Samuel J., Tilghman H., George M., Margaret H., Francis M., and John W., the last-named four being still living. Their mother died Aug. 4, 1882. Mr. McClelland now resides in Indianapolis.

Andrew Hoover, who came to Marion County in 1822, was a native of Randolph County, N. C., born March 12, 1788. At the age of twelve years he went with the family to Montgonery County, Ohio, where he was married (in 1808) to Sarah Sinks, who was also a native of North Carolina. In 1821 he attended the government land sale at Brookville, and purchased a quarter-section of land in that part of Marion County which afterwards became Perry township, and removed to it November, 1822, but after a short stay in Perry removed to Wayne. The lands on which he was assessed in Wayne in 1829 were described as the northeast quarter of section 20, and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 17, in survey-township 15, range 3. The location of Mr. Hoover's farm was not far from the village of Maywood. He was a man of excellent character and standing among the people of the township, and held several responsible public offices. He died on the 25th of November, 1863. He was the father of ten children, viz.: Abijah (dead), George (dead), Daniel D. (dead), Hannah, Mary Ann, Jacob B. (dead), Alexander W., Sarah J., Gary S., and Perry C, the last two being twins.

John Cossell was an early settler, and a resident in Wayne township for more than thirty years. Born in Maryland in 1770, he emigrated, after the Revolution, to Kentucky, and thence to Ohio, where he was married, in 1807, to Mary Holme. They became the parents of thirteen children. Mr. Cossell came to Wayne township in 1823, and died May 10, 1854.

William Cossell, son of John, was born in Butler County, Ohio, in 1811, and came to this county with his father in 1823. In October, 1835, he married Hannah, daughter of Andrew Hoover. The land of the farm on which he now lives was purchased by him with money earned in the building of the old National road bridge across White River.

Nicholas Robinson, a native of Washington County, Tenn., came to Marion County in 1832. On his arrival he was employed at work for Nicholas McCarty. He was married in 1842, and in 1847 moved to Wayne township, where he is still living. His first wife dying, he was again married in 1853. By the first marriage he had four children (all dead), and by the second marriage six children.

William Gladden, who is still living, and almost a nonogenarian,**** has been a resident of Marion County and Wayne township for sixty years; always a highly-respected citizen, and for many years a prominent man in public afiairs. He was born in York County, Pa., and moved with his father's family to Maryland when six years of age, and afterwards emigrated to Ohio, where he was married in August, 1823, and came in the same year to Wayne township, Marion Co., Ind. In 1829 he was assessed on two hundred and forty-seven acres of land, described as the north-east quarter, and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 4, survey-township 15, range 2. Afterwards he added largely to his lands by purchase, and in 1835 was the owner of about five hundred and forty acres. The children of William and Eva Gladden were nine in number, viz., William, John, Washington, Alfred, George, David, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Mary. Five of them are now living, viz.: Alfred, in Indianapolis; George, John, and David, in the country; and William, in California.

Martin Martindale was born in South Carolina in 1788, and when a youth emigrated to Ohio, and at the age of nineteen was married to Elizabeth Pearson, who also was born in South Carolina about the year 1799. They settled on the Little Miami and remained there a few years, then moved to Indiana and settled on White Water, near New Castle, on a small stream called Martindale's Creek. There he remained, working at the wheelright trade making flax- and wool-wheels, which were in demand at that period, until the year 1823, when he came to Marion County and settled in Wayne township, five miles northwest of the city of Indianapolis, in an unbroken forest, having entered a half-section of land that winter before coming. There were six children in the family at that period, viz.: Charlotte, Miles, David, Hannah, Kebecca, and John P. There were also born in Marion County, Lucinda, Priscilla, Elizabeth, and Joseph, all of whom, except Priscilla, are deceased; also Charlotte, Miles, and Rebecca, leaving David, Priscilla, Hannah (Mrs. McCaslin), and John P. the only children of Martin Martindale now living, the last two named living in Wayne township. David lives in Cedar County, Mo.; Priscilla (Mrs. Benedict), lives in Ellsworth County, Kansas. Martin Martindale held no office in the county except justice of the peace two terms. He was a member of and elder in the Christian Church at Old Union for many years. He died Oct. 12, 1843.

Miles Martindale, Martin's brother, was born in South Carolina about the year 1790. He married Nancy Hill and came to Marion County, Ind., about the same time that Martin did, and settled on adjoining lands. They had seven children, — Elmina, William, Martin, Elizabeth, James, David, and Elijah, the last two named being born in Marion County. All of these are dead except Elmina, Elizabeth, and David. Elizabeth (Mrs. Holliday) now lives in Wayne township, and the other two in the West. Miles Martindale died about the year 1830.

David Martindale came from South Carolina, where he was born, to Indiana, and married Priscilla Lewis in Wayne County; then moved to Marion County; located on lands adjoining Martin and Miles, his wife dying soon after, leaving one child, whose name was Allan. He married a second wife, whose name was Rachel Houston, and who had two children, Elizabeth and William. Allan and William are now dead, and Elizabeth is living at Newcastle, Ind. David died about the year 1830. Neither he nor Miles ever held ofiice or were members of any church.

Jesse Frazier was born in Chatham County, N. C, April 7, 1790. He came to Marion County in 1827 or 1828; was a preacher in the “New Light" faith for some time; then embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, and died an acceptable evangelist in the Christian Church, Dec. 30, 1839.

Jeremiah Johnson came to Marion County with his family in 1821, and settled first on lands located north of Indianapolis, near the site of the present fair grounds. He was the first jail-keeper of Marion County, and later he kept a public-house in Indianapolis. In or about 1832 he moved to Wayne township, and erected a steam-mill at Bridgeport, one of the earliest of that kind in the county. Afterwards he lived for some years on his farm, three miles east of Bridgeport. He died in 1876, at the age of eighty-two years.

Samson Houghman was born in Virginia in 1795, and moved thence to Butler County, Ohio, where he passed the years of his youth. He was married very early in life, and became the father of five daughters and one son, Peter N. Houghman, born in 1820. Mr. Houghman came to Marion County in 1829, and settled first in Decatur township, but about 1844 moved to Bridgeport, where for a short time he carried on merchandising with his son. Afterwards he moved to the farm now occupied by his son, Peter N. Houghman, on the National road, about one-fourth of a mile east of Bridgeport. He died in 1852.

The following-named persons, early settlers in Wayne, were resident tax-payers in the township in 1829. The names are given, with a description of the lands on which each was assessed, according to the assessment-roll of that year, viz.:

James Anderson, part of the northeast quarter of section 33, survey-township 16, range 3, ninety-seven acres.

George Avery, east half of northeast quarter of section 25, township 16, range 2.  

Matthew Brown, east half of northeast quarter of section 32, township 16, range 3.

Henry W. Barbour, part of southeast quarter of section 11, township 15, range 2.

George Cossell, Sr., west half of southeast quarter, and east half of southwest quarter of section 6, township 15, range 3.

Daniel Closser, three hundred and twenty acres; the southeast quarter and the east half of the northeast quarter of section 19, township 15, range 3, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 21, in the same township.

Martin Davenport, the west half of the northeast quarter of section 19, township 15, range 3, eighty acres.

John Evans, east half of southeast quarter of section 7, township 15, range 3.

John Fox, the southeast quarter of section 20, township 16, range 3.

Elijah Fox, the southeast quarter of section 29, township 16, range 3, one hundred and sixty acres.

David Fox, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 29, township 16, range 3, eighty acres.

Joseph Hanna, the southeast quarter of section 32, township 16, range 3, and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 33, in same township, two hundred and forty acres.

Jonas Hoover, the west half of southwest quarter of section 29, township 16, range 3, eighty acres.

George E. Hanna, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 5, township 15, range 3, eighty acres.

Ephraim Howard, the east half of the southeast quarter of section 6, township 15, range 3, and the west half of section 5, in same township. Mr. Howard was a brother of Samuel Howard and Reason Howard. The last named was known as a great hunter and fishermen.

John Hanna, the northwest quarter of section 28, township 16, range 3, one hundred and sixty acres.

John Hawkins, the west half of the southeast quarter of section 24, township 16, range 2, eighty acres.

Samuel Howard, forty acres in the east half of the southeast quarter of section 11, township 15, range 2.

John Johnson, the east half of the southeast quarter of section 36, township 16, range 2.

James W. Johnston, the southwest quarter of section 17, and the southeast quarter of section 18, in township 15, range 3.

William Johnson, the west half of the southeast quarter of section 36, township 16, range 2, eighty acres.

Isaac Kelly, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 20, and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 21, in township 16, range 3, one hundred and sixty acres.

James Logan, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 25, township 16, range 2.

William Logan, the north half of the southeast quarter of section 31, and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 32, and a part of the southwest quarter of the same section, all in township 16, range 3; total, one hundred and eighty acres.

James Leonard, the west half of the northeast quarter of section 5, township 15, range 3.

James Miller, the northwest quarter of section 26, in township 16, range 2, one hundred and sixty acres.

Francis McClelland, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 34, and the south half of the northeast quarter of section 33, in township 16, range 2.

Thomas Martin, the north half of the northeast quarter of section 33, township 16, range 2.

William Morris, the east half of the southwest quarter of section 19, township 15, range 3.

Enoch McCarty, the southwest quarter of section 32, in township 16, range 3.

Benjamin S. McCarty, the south half of the southeast quarter of section 31, township 16, range 3.

Israel Phillips, the northwest quarter of section 33, in township 16, range 2.

Benjamin Patterson, part of the southwest quarter of section 18, township 16, range 2, fifty acres.

Minor Roberts, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 28, township 16, range 2.

Jesse Roberts, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 22, township 16, range 2.

James Rains, the east half of the southeast quarter of section 17, township 15, range 3.

James Rhodes, the east half of the southwest quarter of section 24, township 15, range 2.

Hiram and Joseph R. Rhodes, the east half of the northwest quarter of section 24, township 15, range 2. Hiram Rhodes was born in Gloucester County, N. J., in 1805; arrived in Marion County, Ind., in February, 1824.

Caleb Railsback, the west half of the southeast quarter of section 23, township 16, range 2.

Joseph J. Reed, the west half of the northeast quarter of section 22, township 16, range 2.

Andrew W. Roberts, the east half of the southwest quarter of section 28, township 16, range 2.

Thomas Stoops, the east half of the northwest quarter of section 32, township 16, range 3.

William Speer, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 9, township 15, range 2.

Oliver Shurtliff, the west half of the southeast quarter of section 28, township 16, range 2.

Abraham Sadousky, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 1, and the east half of the northeast quarter of section 2, in township 15, range 2.

Luke Strong, the northeast and southeast quarters of section 21, in township 16, range 2.

David Stoops, the east half of the northeast quarter of section 32, township 16, range 3.

Thomas Triggs, Jr., the west half of the northeast quarter of section 25, township 16, range 2.

David Varner, the southwest quarter of section 26, in township 16, range 2.

John Van Blaricum and David S. Van Blaricum, the southwest quarter of section 33, township 16, range 3.

Noah Wright, the northwest quarter of section 21, in township 15, range 3.

Levi Wright, the southeast quarter of section 20, township 15, range 3.

Michael Woods, the southeast quarter of section 24, township 15, range 2, and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 19, township 15, range 3.

Sarah Whitinger, the southeast quarter of section 22, in township 16, range 2.

Jordan Wright, the southwest quarter of section 22, township 16, range 2.

John Wolf, the east half of the northwest quarter of section 33, township 16, range 3.

James Johnson, Esq., the southwest quarter of section 31, township 16, range 3. A biographical sketch of Mr. Johnson is given on another page of this work.

William Speer, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 9, township 15, range 2. Mr. Speer was born in 1802, and came to Marion County in 1824.

Adam Thompson, assessed on no property, except one horse and two oxen. He was well known as the keeper of a tavern on the National road, near Bridgeport.

Wolfgang Coffman lived near the southwest corner of the township, but was not assessed on any real estate. He had been a soldier in the armies of the Emperor Napoleon, and was fond of relating incidents of the conqueror's campaigns and of the disastrous retreat from Moscow in 1812.

William McCaw, the southwest quarter and the west half of the southeast quarter of section 21, township 16, range 3. Lands located near Eagle Creek, northwest of Mount Jackson. He was a native of Westmoreland County, Pa., born in 1787, and came to Marion County in April, 1822.

Isaac Pugh, the northeast quarter of section 26 and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 25, township 16, range 2. Mr. Pugh was born in Chatham, N. C, in 1794; came to Marion County in July, 1822, and became one of the wealthiest farmers and most prominent men in Wayne township, being frequently elected to responsible offices. His farm was near where the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway crosses Eagle Creek.

Jacob Pugh's heirs, the southeast quarter of section 26, the northeast quarter of section 27, and the northeast quarter of section 35, in township 16, range 2. Jacob Pugh was a North Carolinian, who emigrated to Marion County in the summer of 1822, and died before 1829. He was the father of Isaac Pugh before mentioned.

Joseph Pense, not assessed on any real estate, but afterwards owned a farm located on the Rockville road, near Eagle Creek. Enoch Pense was his son.

Jesse Johnson, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 35, township 16, range 2. Mr. Johnson was a native of Grayson County, Va.; born in 1787; arrived as a settler in Marion County, Nov. 16, 1826; died July 9, 1879.

Isaac Harding, the west half of the northwest quarter of section 4, township 15, range 2, eighty-three acres. Mr. Harding was born in Wayne County, Ind., in 1804, and came to Marion County in November, 1826.

Greorge L. Kinnard, assessed on no property in Wayne township in 1829, except one horse and a silver watch. He was one of the earliest (if not the first) of the school-teachers of the township. Col. Kinnard had charge of the surveying and laying out of the Lafayette State road. In 1833 he was elected to Congress against William W. Wick as opposing candidate. His death was caused by an accident on a steamboat.

William Holmes, the northeast quarter of section 8, in township 15, range 3; the west half of the northwest quarter of the same section; and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 9, same township and range. Mr. Holmes was born in Westmoreland County, Pa., in 1792, emigrated with his father's family to Ohio in 1800, and in 1820 removed to Wayne County, Ind. In 1821 he married Elizabeth Lyons, and settled on his lands in Wayne township, Marion Co., where he made his home during the remainder of his life. He built the Billy Holmes saw-mill on Eagle Creek, just below the National road bridge. In 1832 he was one of those who volunteered for service in the Black Hawk war. He was the father of William Canada Holmes, one of the best-known citizens of Marion County, and also of eleven other children, viz.: John B., Jonathan L., Ira N., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Uriah, Noah P., Marcia Ann, Martha Ann, Elizabeth, and Sarah. He died in 1858. His younger brother, John, came to this county with him, and settled in Wayne, on the northwest quarter of section 8, township 15, range 3. He, with his brother William, took the contract for the brick-work of the old (first) court-house of Marion County. John also built the Kunkle mill, in Wayne township. He died a few years after he made his settlement here.

Abraham Coble, the northeast quarter of section 29, township 16, range 3. He was a native of North Carolina, emigrated to Ohio, and thence, in 1821, to Wayne township, Marion Co., where he settled on the lands described. He built one of the first saw-mills of Marion County, located on Crooked Creek, near his homestead. With lumber sawed at this mill he loaded a flat-boat and sent it down White River, it being the first lumber-freighted boat that ever descended that stream. He died in May, 1842. His son, George Coble, is now living in Indianapolis.

Joshua Glover, the southwest quarter of section 18, township 15, range 3. A daughter of Mr. Glover married James W. Johnson, of this township. Joshua Glover died in 1836.

David Faussett, the south part of the southwest quarter of section 9, township 15, range 2, one hundred and seven acres. He was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1802, and arrived in Marion County as a settler March 4, 1824.

Lewis Clark (colored), the east half of the southeast quarter of section 8, township 15, range 3. Clark was a fugitive slave, and it is said of him that he was the first colored man who paid taxes on real estate in Marion County. In 1836, at the "raising" of Clark's frame house, an accident occurred, by which William Cool lost his life. Cool was a settler in Wayne township before 1829, and reared one of the first orchards in the township. His daughter, the widow of Theodore Johnson, is still living in the township.

Cyrus Cotton, the west half of the southeast quarter of section 8, township 15, range 3. His lands were located west of Eagle Creek, on the present line of the Vandalia Railroad. On his farm he erected a two-story stone dwelling-house, one of the first of that kind built in Marion County.

John P. Cook, the west half of the southwest quarter of section 21, township 15, range 3. Mr. Cook's two-story brick house was the first built in the township, and one of the earliest in the county, of that material.

Luke Bryant, the east half of the southwest quarter of section 21, township 15, range 3. These lands joined the farm of John P. Cook on the east. Mr. Bryant came to Marion County from the vicinity of Urbana, Ohio, bringing a considerable amount (for those times) of money, which he placed out at interest. He was an eccentric man, and (as it was said by some) inclined to skepticism in religious belief. He sold his farm on section 21, but continued to reside in the township until his death.  

Joel Conarroe, the east half of the southeast quarter of section 28, township 16, range 2. Mr. Conarroe was a native of Burlington County, N. J., born in the year 1800, and came to Marion County, Ind., in December, 1821.

John Furnas, the west half of the northeast quarter and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 21, township 15, range 2. "John Furnas, agent," was assessed on the west half of the northwest quarter, Isaac Furnas on the southeast quarter, and Joseph Furnas on the southwest quarter of the same section; so that the Furnases, who were all Quakers, held the entire section, except eighty acres, the east half of the northeast quarter. The farm of John Furnas embraced the ground which became the site of Bridgeport. On his farm, below the village site, he had a mill, which was driven by the water-power of the creek. This mill, which he built and put in operation before the beginning of the village settlement, he afterwards sold to John Zimmerman.  

The village or "town" of Bridgeport is situated in the southwest corner of Wayne township, on a fork of White Lick Creek, and also on the lines of the Vandalia Railroad and the old National or Cumberland road. The village was laid out by Samuel K. Barlow (on land of John Furnas, as before mentioned) in 1830, the town plat being recorded May 17, 1831. The original plat comprehended forty-three lots, lying on six streets, viz.: the main street (the old Cumberland road, running through the centre), seventy-five feet wide; Ballard Street and Porter Street, each seventy feet wide; and the narrower streets named North, East, and South, bounding the village on the sides indicated by their names. Barlow afterwards laid out two small additions, embracing between thirty and forty lots on two new streets crossing the Cumberland road.

The first dwelling-house in the village was that of Aaron Homan, located on the southwest corner of Ballard Street and the Cumberland road. It was a building of hewed logs, about eighteen by twenty feet in size, and besides serving as Homan's dwelling, it was also the place where the first meetings were held in the village. Homan (who was a cabinet-maker) may thus be mentioned as the first settler in Bridgeport, though several others settled there at about the same time, among them being Robert Speer, Allen Jennings, and John Johnson, all of whom built small houses of hewed logs. Robert Speer was a brewer, and located on the second lot east of the site of the present Methodist Church. Allen Jennings lived on the corner of Ballard Street and the Cumberland road. John Johnson was the first merchant of the place, and his store, located on the southeast corner of Ballard Street and the Cumberland road, was the first frame building erected (1832) in Bridgeport. He occupied it for merchandising about six years, then sold out. It was afterwards owned and carried on for a short time by William and John Givens.

John Zimmerman was a wagon-maker and a prominent man of the village of Bridgeport. He has already been mentioned as the purchaser of John Furnas's old water-mill on the stream below the town.

The first public-house in Bridgeport was opened by John Ballard, between 1839 and 1840. David Hartsock was the first tavern-keeper in the village, his first license being dated March 7, 1839, and he continued in the business there till about 1845.

Samuel Lockyer was a shoemaker and kept the first shop of that trade in Bridgeport, having a small shoe-store in connection. He commenced business there in 1838, and had Ranston Wooten with him for some time. About 1845, Wooten started another shoe-store, in which he carried on a business of considerable magnitude for several years. The first physician was Dr. Lot Reagan, but neither the exact date of his coming nor the length of time that he practiced in Bridgeport has been ascertained.

John Mattern was one of the early and prominent men of Bridgeport. He was born in 1801 in Huntingdon County, Pa., where he learned the trade of potter. In 1831 he came to Indianapolis, where he had a store, and was the first one who sold ready-made clothing in the city. In 1833 he married Mary Scott, a widow, and daughter of John Johnson. In 1834 he moved to Bridgeport and went into merchandising with his father-in-law, but after about two years the store was sold out to ----- Williams, and Mattern went into the pottery business, which he followed in Bridgeport for about seventeen years, after which he kept a public-house for four years. In the mean time he held a number of public offices. He was appointed postmaster***** at Bridgeport, and in 1840 was elected justice of the peace. In 1846 he was elected township trustee, and held the office several terms by re-election. Having sold out his tavern business, he moved ffom Bridgeport to a farm about two miles west of the village on the National road. Now in his old age he is living about four miles southwest, with his son John. His other surviving sons are George and Jacob, the last named being the son of his first wife, who died in 1841. His second wife, by whom he had four children, was Hannah M. Woodrow.

Before the financial panic of 1837 the village of Bridgeport had attained a very considerable growth, and was a place of much more comparative importance than it is to-day. A little prior to that time a steam flouring-mill and saw-mill was built and put in operation by Jeremiah Johnson, who had previously been the (first) keeper of the Marion County jail, and an innkeeper in Indianapolis. He also opened quite an extensive store in a large frame building erected for the purpose on the opposite side of the street from John Johnson's. This store passed from Jeremiah Johnson into the hands of Washington McKay, who kept it for some years, and was succeeded by ----- Baker, who, during his term of business, built the building now occupied by John Rhodes. Baker sold out to James S. Newman, and he to Samson Houghman and his son, P. N. Houghman, in 1844. They kept it about two years, and sold to John Hoffman and Samuel Schenck, who were the last proprietors of the establishment. Another early store was located on the Cumberland road, west of Ballard Street, near Allen Jennings, and was carried on by William Stout, who purchased from a previous proprietor.

A grocery and liquor-store was started about 1836 by Eli McCaslan and Charles Merrick. It afterwards passed into the possession of Aaron McCaslin. There were a number of liquor-shops and tippling-houses in Bridgeport during its early days, but they passed out of existence many years ago, the last one being blown up with gunpowder about the year 1850.

A store was started in the southwest part of the town about 1842, by Samuel Spray and ----- McKnight, who kept it until the death of Spray, when McKnight sold out to Thomas Mills. It afterwards passed to Nathaniel Mills and Calvin Ballard, and some other proprietors, and was finally discontinued. In 1840, and for some years thereafter, Bridgeport contained four general stores besides a grocery, but after the opening of the railroad the number decreased, and the business was revolutionized. The village has now two general stores, both on the National road, — one kept by John H. Ingling and the other by Thomas Ingling; a post-office, John H. Ingling, postmaster; two churches (the Methodist, with Rev. ----- Switzer as pastor, and the Friends, with Wilson Spray as principal minister); two brick school-houses; a steam mill (not in operation), owned by H. Swindler, and a population of about three hundred inhabitants.

Bridgeport Lodge, No. 162, F. and A. M., was chartered May 24, 1854, Joseph H. Ballard, W. M.; Noah Reagan, S. W.; Samuel G. Owen, J. W. The present officers of the lodge are Humphrey Forsha, W. M.; Peter P. Blank, S. W.; Woodford Thompson, J. W.; Daniel Broadway, Treas.; R. W. Thompson, Sec. The lodge has now thirty-five members.

The village of Maywood is situated on the south line of the township near its southeastern corner, and on the line of the Indianapolis and Vincennes Railroad. On a part of the site now occupied by the village a two story brick house was built in 1822 (some accounts say 1821), by John P. Cook, who was the first resident in that locality. There was no village at the place, nor was it in any way different from other farming neighborhoods for forty years after Cook's settlement there.

In 1854, James A. Marrs and Ira N. Holmes built a steam grist-mill in Decatur township, on the southwest quarter of section 36, township 15, range 2. Holmes sold out to Marrs, who ran it until his death, in October, 1857, and it was afterwards run by his administrator till 1863, when it ceased operation, and was sold to Fielding Beeler and Calvin Fletcher, who moved the machinery to a new mill building which they erected on land owned by Fletcher at what is now Maywood. They added a saw-mill and some new machinery, and ran it until the spring of 1873, when it was sold
to other parties; but it was not a financial success, and was finally abandoned, the machinery sold, and the building dismantled.

At the building of the mill at Maywood and during the occupancy of Messrs. Beeler and Fletcher they erected nine dwelling-houses for their workmen, of whom they employed about twenty. There was no store there, but a cooper-shop and a blacksmith-shop were opened at the place, which was called Beeler's Station, on the Vincennes Railroad. The mill enter-prise, and what grew out of it, created the village, which was laid out as Maywood, June 4, 1873. It is yet a very small village, containing about twenty dwellings, one general store (by Charles Litter), one grocery, at the depot, a post-office (Charles Litter, postmaster), one blacksmith-sbop (by George Crowe), one wagon-shop (John Russell's), one physician (Dr. Harrison Peachee), one shoemaker, one school-house (no graded school), a Methodist Episcopal Church (Rev. Mr. Payne, pastor), and nearly one hundred inhabitants.

Fielding Beeler, one of the earliest born and best known of the native citizens of Marion County, is a son of Joseph Beeler, and born in Decatur township, March 30, 1823. He remembers seeing at least one party of the Indians of the country before their final departure from it; has heard the wild wolves howl around his father's cabin at night, and remembers when what few sheep were in his neighborhood were regularly penned at night near the owner's dwelling, to keep them from being devoured by these voracious prowlers. Most of his education was obtained in the primitive log school-house, and under the tuition of the primitive teachers of these early times. His school-books were Webster's “Spelling-Book" (old edition), in which he became very proficient, “The American Preceptor," “English Reader," Weems' “Lives of Marion and Washington," and Pike's “Arithmetic." These schools were taught in the winter, and from one and a half to three miles from his home, and most of the way through the. woods; but the trips were almost invariably enlivened by the sight of deer, sometimes a dozen of them in a herd, and flocks of wild turkeys. He says it seems to him now that there were sometimes hundreds of them in sight at once.

During these school-terms he generally did the going to mill for the family, part of the time to the old Bayou Mill, which stood a little north of the present site of the Nordyke Machine-Works, and at other times to the Ede Harding Mill, on Eagle Creek. The man was to take a sack on a horse, and he ride on the sack. As the grinding was done by turns, and it usually required from one to three weeks for the turn to be reached, it was of importance to commence in time. After beginning his Saturday trips, usually in a couple of weeks he could begin taking a grist home, and thus during the course of the winter enough was accumulated to last well into the summer.

One of the important occurrences of his boyhood years was a trip to the then important town or city of Madison with a two-horse wagon loaded with wheat; as he remembers, about twenty-five or twenty-six bushels constituted the load, and was sold on arrival at sixty-two and a half cents per bushel, and the proceeds invested in a sack of coffee, with perhaps some additional funds in salt at seventy-five cents per bushel, which constituted the return load. The trip was made in company with a neighbor. Feed for the trip for team and boy was hauled in the wagon, out-doors used for dining-room, and wagon-bed or the ground under it for sleeping-room. It was to him, however, an important journey as he passed down and up the Madison hill, saw the to him great Ohio River and several steamboats, and also what seemed to his boyish imagination a great town.

Afterwards Mr. Beeler had the advantage of two winter terms in the old Marion County Seminary, under that paragon of teachers, James S. Kemper. Shortly after reaching his majority he was married to Eliza A. Marrs, and the next spring (1845) settled in Wayne township, on the northeast quarter of section 21, township 15, range 3, where he still resides. Mr. Beeler has been actively identified with the advancement of the agricultural and industrial industries of the county and State. He has done much in the improvement of the cattle, hogs, and sheep of the county by the purchase and dissemination of improved breeds, and by his earnest advocacy of the great advantage of the same to farmers. He has been an officer in all the county agricultural societies which have existed since his majority; was secretary of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture for 1869, the State fair of that year being the most successful one held to that time, and he has been for four years past the general superintendent of the same, and has been highly complimented for his efficient and successful management.

Mr. Beeler has always given his special attention to his farm, but was from 1863 to 1873 engaged in the milling business, in connection with his brother-in-law, Calvin Fletcher. They owned and operated a steam grist- and saw-mill near Mr. Beeler's residence, at what is now Maywood, doing a large business in flour and lumber, their flour being well known, and holding a high reputation in home and eastern markets, but in consequence of the distance from the city and consequent expense of hauling, and the great improvements made in grist-mill machinery, it was found to be unprofitable and the business abandoned in 1873.

Mr. Beeler, though having decided views on the political questions which have attracted the attention of the country since he has been old enough to take an interest in the subject, cannot properly be considered as a politician, as is usually understood by that term, at least in later years.

In 1850 he was nominated by the Whig County Convention of that year as one of its candidates for the Legislature, but was defeated, though receiving the full vote of his party. He was one of the nominees of the Republican party for the same position in 1868, and elected and served through the regular and special sessions of that somewhat exciting period; was chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, besides being on a number of other committees, and took an active part in all questions relating to the agricultural interests of the State, as well as to the particular interests of his constituents. He introduced a bill for the appointment of a State geologist and geological survey of the State, which became a law and which has had a very marked influence on the development of the coal-mining and quarrying interests of the State. He was again nominated in 1870 and elected, and served through the session of 1871, being again a member of the committee on agriculture, and taking an active part in its deliberations, as well as in general legislation. During each of his terms in the Legislature, he introduced and advocated bills for a homestead law, exempting the same from sale for debt, etc.; advocated and voted for bills increasing allotment to widows and exemption to debtors.

Mr. Beeler has always given much attention to the raising of stock. Some fifteen years ago he had a herd of thirty to forty head of short-horn cattle, but on going more extensively into dairying, gradually gave up that specialty. He keeps about one hundred fine Berkshire swine, and a flock of about ninety Cotswold sheep. He is now, and has been for four years, president of the Indiana Wool Growers' Association. He is an excellent farmer, and has the reputation of keeping more stock in proportion to the acreage of his farm than any other man in the county.

During the time when Mr. Beeler was operating the mill at Maywood he had, on one occasion, a very exciting and unpleasant experience, in being the victim of a daring highway robbery. At twilight, on an evening of November, 1867, as he was returning home from Indianapolis in a buggy, with his little daughter, nine years of age, after having crossed Eagle Creek, and being in sight of his house, he was suddenly confronted by three masked men, one of whom seized the horse by the bridle, while the others quickly advanced, one on each side, and with cocked revolvers pointed at his breast, commanded him to deliver up his money and valuables, and to do it quickly. After a little hesitation, seeing that resistance was hopeless, he handed them his pocket-book (containing about one hundred dollars) and a valuable watch. The robbers, having satisfied themselves that they had secured all of value that he had about him, allowed him to pass on, the ruffian at the horse's head quitting his hold of the bridle, and with a theatrical wave of the hand bidding him to “move up lively."

It is said by some who know Mr. Beeler that, though naturally rather slow to act, he is fully in earnest when aroused, and that opinion was. fully verified in this case, for he acted with such promptness and energy that in less than twenty-four hours, he, with the assistance of the city police, had secured the arrest of two of the robbers, while the other (a property-owner in Indianapolis) had fled from the county. In less than a week the robber who had held the horse's head had been tried and sentenced to eight years in the penitentiary. A friend and accomplice (though not one of the three who robbed Mr. Beeler) had falsely sworn an alibi for the one convicted, and in less than another week he was himself on the way to the penitentiary under an eight-years' sentence for perjury. The other arrested robber had a father who was possessed of considerable property, and it was supposed that the criminal fraternity also contributed largely towards his defense. When his trial came on (the prosecuting attorney who conducted the proceedings against the other robber having resigned his office) the prosecution of the case devolved on a young lawyer of good talents, but little experience, and thereupon Mr. Beeler, being determined that the villain should not escape from justice, employed at his own expense eminent and experienced lawyer to assist the prosecution. After a protracted trial, in which there was a great amount of false swearing, and money freely used to save the prisoner, he was convicted, and sentenced to the penitentiary for three
years (the verdict being a compromise one, some of the jury holding out for eight years and others being for acquittal). This ruffian, after serving out his term, returned to Indianapolis, and a short time afterwards was engaged in the attempted robbery of a farm-house, in which he received several severe wounds, was captured, tried, and sentenced to the southern prison for eight years. Shortly after his incarceration there he became the leader in an attempt by a number of convicts to escape, in which attempt he killed one of the guards, for which he received sentence of death, but succeeded in obtaining a new trial, which resulted in a sentence of imprisonment for life in the penitentiary.

The village of Mount Jackson, situated on the east line of the township, had its origin in a public-house built by W. C. Holmes and others, about 1837, on the National road, at that point. Adjoining the place were the lands of Obadiah Harris and Nathaniel Bolton. The village was laid out by Harris and Muir in 1838, and the plat recorded October 27th of that year. A store was opened by Daniel Hoover, and another by Moore & Kempton. The buildings of the Asylum for the Insane, which have been erected just north of the hamlet of Mount Jackson, are more fully mentioned in the history of Indianapolis, though not within the city limits.

Clermont village is situated in the northwest corner of Wayne township, on both sides of the old Crawfordsville road, and on the line of the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Railway, which runs along the south side of the town. The west line of the county is the western boundary of the village.

The town plat — recorded April 6, 1849 — shows that it was laid out, as “Mechanicsburg," by Percy Hosbrook, on land owned by William Speer. The plat embraced about seven acres, divided into nineteen lots, most of them being sixty-four by two hundred and thirty-one feet in size, fronting on the one street of the village, — the Crawfordsville road. The name of the town was soon afterwards changed from Mechanicsburg to the present one of Clermont, and two additions to it were laid out, one by Mr. Martindale (recorded April 2, 1855) and one by Ezekiel Dill (recorded June 30, in the same year).

There was a little settlement at this place before the laying out of the village of Mechanicsburg, and that name was given to the new town because several of those who first located there were engaged in mechanical vocations. The first building erected on the site was built for a cooper-shop by Charles W. Murray. John Larimore, a wagon-maker, was also located there, and there was a blacksmith-shop, owned by Ezekiel Dill and John W. Smith. The earliest dwelling-houses in the place were those of Larimore, Ezekiel Dill, John W. Smith, Squire Smith, William R. Smith, George Ballard, James D. Thompson, G. G. Minnefee, John Ross, James P. Graham, and Charles W. Murray, — before mentioned as the first cooper. He was the owner of the shop and business at the time of his death, though in the mean time it had passed through several other hands. It now belongs to Alfred Parker. The Dill blacksmith-shop is now owned by John Goldsborough, and the
business carried on by Robert H. Miller. Another (started by John M. Foreman about 1870) is now owned by J. N. Johnson and carried on by Mr. Erhart.

The first stores in the village were those of John Larimore (where the post-office was kept) and Samson Barbe, whose partner in the business was James C. Ross. The next was opened by ----- Yohn, whose partner was Robert Taylor. Yohn sold out his interest to Taylor, with whom Frank Kennell became partner and afterwards sole owner. Another store was opened by John T. Turpin and Isaac S. Long about 1852. This went through several changes of proprietorship, but was owned by Turpin at the time of his death. A grocery is now kept in the Turpin store-house by William L. McCray.

A saw-mill was put in operation in Clermont in 1860 by James P. Graham, who removed the machinery not long afterwards, but brought it back to the village. It was never very successful, however, and was again and finally removed in or about 1875. Another saw-mill, started and owned by Henry Calvin, is still in successful operation. At present Clermont is a village of two hundred and thirty inhabitants, containing two school-houses, one graded school, three churches, viz.: the Christian (L. H. Jameson, pastor), Presbyterian (Joseph Patton, pastor), and the Methodist
(G. H. Vought, pastor), a post-office (J. N. Johnson, postmaster), an Odd-Fellows' lodge, three general stores (drygoods and groceries combined), kept, respectively, by J. N. Johnson & Bro., E. V. Johnson, and W. T. McCray, one drug-store, by Dr. W. M. Brown, one saw-mill, by Henry Calvin (before mentioned), and several mechanic shops. It has no liquor-saloon or drinking-place of any kind. A dram-shop was opened in the place some twenty years ago, but the citizens suppressed the traffic and forced its abandonment. Clermont is, and has ever been, noted for the orderly conduct and sobriety of its people.

Foster Lodge, No. 372, I. O. O. F., was instituted June 22, 1871. It is located at Clermont, where a hall has been erected for its use, valued at fifteen hundred dollars. The lodge has twelve Past Grands, and an active membership of eighteen, with the following officers: John B. Miller, N. G.; M. V. Norris, V. G.; R. H. Miller, Sec.; David Wall, Treas.; A. F. Smith, Per. Sec.

Churches, — A church building was erected by the people of Clermont and vicinity at an early day for the free occupancy of any and all denominations for religious worship, and it was so used for a number of years. A cemetery was laid out about 1850 on land of Isaac S. Long, donated to the public use. It is on the north side of the town, and includes about one acre.

The first church organized at “Old Union" was what was then called “New Lights, or Christian Body," about the year 1826, under the labor of Jesse Frazier and Henry Logan. The organization took place before there was any house of worship erected. Meetings were held from house to house until for want of room they erected a large shelter covered with boards put on cabin-fashion, with knees and weight-poles, so that the boards might be used in covering the house when it could be built. In the course of a year a hewed-log house was erected, about thirty feet square, with a gallery above.

About this time the question of the Reformation was agitated, and most of the members fell in with the new idea without schism or division. Hence the Christian Church was established, with the following members: Martin and Elizabeth Martindale, Jordan and Barbara Wright, David and Jemima Varner, John and Maria Barnhill, William and Nancy Dodd, Joel and Catharine Conarroe, Sarah Barnhill, George Cossell, Jesse and Margaret Frazier, Caleb and Nancy Railsback, Matthew and Sarah Railsback, Jesse and Jane Johnson, Dorcas Pugh, and Sarah Jones.

Elder Jesse Frazier was the preacher in charge, with other preachers from time to time, viz.: Henry Logan, James McVey, Andrew Prater, T. Lockhart, J. Matlock, and George W. Snoddy, under whose labors the church lived together in harmony, many being added thereto from time to time.

About the year 1850 or 1851 a new frame house, thirty by forty feet, was built on the same ground occupied by the former log structure, in which the church prospered under the labors of Thomas Lockhart, L. H. Jameson, J. L. Rude, and others, until the division took place on account of the agitation of the soul-sleeping doctrine introduced by J. W. Bywaters, J. C. Stephenson, Nathan Horniday, and other of its adherents, they remaining in the house, while those opposed to that doctrine moved their membership to Clermont, and were instrumental in building a free church-house
in which all denominations might worship, and in which the Christian Church was again organized, Aug. 1, 1853, having been dedicated by Oliver P. Badger.

The church was organized by the members subscribing to the following: “We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, in order to form a congregation for the worship of Almighty God, and for our mutual edification in the Christian religion, do agree to unite together in church-fellowship, taking the Bible and the Bible alone for our rule of faith and practice." J. P. Martindale and William P. Long were appointed to take the oversight of the following charter members: Joel and Catharine Conarroe, Mary J. Martindale, Squire and Sarah Smith, Arnold and Nancy Call, V. J. and Susan Brown, Isaac S. and Sarah V. Long, Mercy Murry, Sarah D. Long, Rebecca David, Gaten and Zerelda Menifee, Rodney and Sarah Gibbons, Isaac and Eliza Wiler, John and Maria Barnhill.

In the years 1865 and 1866 there was erected a new house of worship by the Christian Church, a substantial brick, thirty-six by fifty-six by sixteen feet story, well finished, and costing about three thousand dollars. The church was dedicated Aug. 20, 1866, by Love H. Jameson, who has done more preaching at Clermont than any other man. He had been preaching for the church the past year, up to the time of his leaving on his Eastern voyage, as he had been more or less ever since the first organization at Clermont, though there have been many others that have preached for the church, among whom we might mention the names of O. A. Burgess, Prof. S. K. Hoshour, W. R. Jewell, J. C. Canfield, James Conner, and many others.

The first Sunday-school in Clermont was superintended by Joseph Patton, a Presbyterian, and was conducted as a union school, in which all denominations took part. After the erection of the free church in Clermont the Christian Church organized a Sunday-school in the year 1852, and ever since that time there has been a school under the supervision of the Christian Church.

At present the school numbers about seventy-five pupils, and is in a flourishing condition. There are other schools in the village, under the supervision of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Clermont was organized about 1849, with eight or ten members, among whom were J. W. Larimore, William K. Johnson, James D. Johnson, John Ross, William R. Smith, Jonathan Bratton, ----- Owens, and William Speer. The first meeting was held at the house of Dr. John Ross. Subsequent meetings were held at private dwellings until the erection of the church (frame) building about 1850. The first preacher was the Rev. ----- Heath, among whose successors were the Revs. McDonald, Davy, Mashaun, Baker, Webster, Lewis, Ricker, Demott, McMannie, Mahan, Hazelton, and G. J. Vought, the present minister. The church has now a membership of between forty and fifty, and there is connected with it a Sabbath-school, which was started by Mr. McDaniel, at about the time when the church building was erected. The present superintendent is J. T. Jones, and the school is attended by nearly one hundred pupils.

The Presbyterian Church at Clermont was organized under charge of the Rev. George Long, and among the small band of original members were John Moore, Martin Warfel, William B. McClelland, and Joseph Patton. The church edifice (a frame building) erected about 1858 is the present house of worship of the congregation. The church has now between twenty-five and thirty members, under pastoral charge of Mr. Patton.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Bridgeport was organized as a class about the year 1832. The first meetings were held at the houses of Aaron Homan, Robert Speer, and other members, and afterwards in the school-house, until the erection (about 1850) of their meeting-house, which was a frame structure, about thirty by forty feet in size. One of the earliest preachers to this church was the Rev. Asa Beck, who was exceedingly earnest and enthusiastic (and, as some said, violent) in his preaching. After him came the circuit preachers Dorsey and Smith. The present pastor of the church is the Rev. Mr. Switzer. About 1844 a burial-ground was laid out in connection with this church, but after a very few interments had been made the ground was abandoned for that use.

The Maywood Methodist Episcopal Church dates its class organization back about fifty years, at which time their place of meeting was in a log church building, which was erected on land of Samuel Darnell, one of the most prominent of the members. After a time this old building was given up, and a new frame church was built, about three hundred yards north of the old site, on the Darnell land (which had in the mean time passed to the ownership of Charles Robinson). This frame church, which was sometimes called the Robinson Church, was located about two miles north of Maywood, at the crossing of Morris Street and the Maywood road, on the southwest corner. This church building was destroyed by fire some fifteen years ago, and about the year 1875 the present church at Maywood was erected for the use of the congregation. The removal to Maywood, and the erection of the new church building there, was largely due to the enthusiastic energy and perseverance of a young circuit preacher, the Rev. Mr. Kelsey. The church now numbers about fifty members, among whom are Charles Robinson, James H. Porter, C. S. Hoover, Henry Johnson, David Robinson, Jesse Wright, and others of prominence.

An old Baptist Church building, erected more than half a century ago (one of the first frame churches in Marion County), is still standing near Mount Jackson, a little west of the Insane Asylum. The first church organization that worshiped here included among its prominent members Israel, Samuel, and Ede Harding, with others of the pioneer settlers of that vicinity. The organization ceased to exist many years ago, and the church building was abandoned as a house of worship.

The Friends' meeting-house of Bridgeport is a good brick building, standing about a half-mile out from the village. John Furnas, the original owner of the land which forms the town site, was a Quaker, and most of the first inhabitants of Bridgeport and its vicinity were members of the same sect. Samuel Spray, James Mills, John Johnson, John Owens, David Mills, Samuel Starbuck, Joseph, Isaac, and Robert Furnas, and Asa, Joel, John, and David Ballard were all prominent men in the Friends' Meeting. The first meeting-house of the society at this place was a frame building, which, after some years' use, gave place to the present brick house. A burial-ground, in connection with the church, embraces about a half-acre, donated to the society for that purpose by Samuel Spray at about the time of the erection of the old meeting-house. The principal minister of the Friends at this place at the present time is Wilson Spray.

Schools. — One of the earliest (and said to be the first) of the school-houses in Wayne township was on the Daniel Barnhill farm, near the farm of Asa B. Strong. Another was on the farm of William Gladden. Both these, as also all the others of the earliest school-houses, were merely log cabins, built by the people of their respective neighborhoods, without the aid of any public funds either in building the houses or supporting the schools. The Barnhill school-house, above mentioned, was built in the fall of 1823, and in it the first teacher was George L. Kinnard (afterwards a member of Congress), who taught two terms. Following him were several teachers, among whom were Hugh Wells and John Tomlinson. This old school-house went to decay many years ago.

There is an old log building still standing east of Eagle Creek and about a half-mile north of the Crawfordsville road, which was erected for a school-house in 1824 by Isaac Pugh and others, and which was the only place of education in that part of the township. One of the earliest teachers in it (and believed to be the first) was a man named Barker. A few years later a school was taught there by George Sanders. The old building was used as a school-house until about 1847, and then abandoned for that use.

Another log school-house, built by the people of the neighborhood in the same manner and at about the same time as that above mentioned, was located on the John T. Presley farm. Like the other early school-houses, it had logs cut out for window-spaces and these covered with greased paper. The floor, seats, and writing-bench for pupils were made of puncheons, — that is, split logs hewed tolerably smooth on the split side. Mr. Barker also taught in this house, and Robert G. Hanna was a teacher there about 1826-27. It was used as a school-house for nearly a quarter of a century, and was abandoned about 1847.

A school-house, built about 1834, was situated on the turnpike near the Crawfordsville road. It was a log building, of the same style outside and inside as the others mentioned. The first teacher in this building was Freeborn Garretson, who was followed by Joseph Darby, who taught from about 1838 till 1841, when the building was abandoned and demolished. In Bridgeport a school-house was built at about the time of the laying out of the town by S. K. Barlow. This was used for school purposes until 1842, when a brick house was built by subscription, and schools were maintained in it also by subscription until the inauguration of the county system of schools.

Wayne township has now eighteen school districts and the same number of school-houses, ten frame and eight brick. The schools taught in these include four graded and two colored schools. The number of teachers employed in 1883 was twenty-two white (thirteen male and nine female) and two colored teachers. The average length of school terms was one hundred and forty days. Total average attendance, five hundred. Six teachers' institutes were held in the township during the year. Value of school-houses and sites in the township, twenty-two thousand dollars; value of school apparatus, three hundred dollars; number of children admitted to schools in Wayne in 1883: white male, four hundred and twenty-three; white females, three hundred and forty-one; colored males, thirty-one; colored females, forty-two; total, eight hundred and thirty-seven.

Sulgrove, B. R., History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1884, 785 pgs., pgs. 647-665.

*  Robert Barnhill's estate was the first entered for probate in Marion County.
**  Sketches of Prominent Citizens, etc., by John H. B. Nowland.
*** Sketches of Prominent Citizens, 1876.
****   When this was written (December, 1883) Mr. Gladden and his aged wife were living and in good health. He died
Jan. 29, 1884, and she died on the day following. After a married life of more than sixty years, they rest together in Crown
Hill Cemetery.
***** The post-office at Bridgeport was established in 1832. The first postmaster was Eli Murdock, who served but a
short time, then resigned, and was succeeded by Aaron Homan, who was in turn succeeded by John Mattern, as stated
above.