Hi all. Often times I come accross an article while doing research at the Allen Co.
Library, that I really should post to the lists. I found this one today and decided I
should post it in hopes that it will be of help to someone. Even if it doesn't
pertain directly to your ancestors, you will enjoy it anyway. I have scanned it and
pasted it below. This particular article came from the Periodical titled "Indiana
Roots". Enjoy.
Rex Bertram
PO Box 651
Redkey, IN 47373
I do Free Genealogy Look-ups from many sources. Check out my web page.
Temporary web page address:
http://www.angelfire.com/in4/genealogyhelp/lookup.html
HEHRY COUNTY
A potpourri of early Henry County residents:
In 1838 and for several years prior, William Silver kept a store in New Castle. He was the
contractor for carrying the United States mails once a week, on horseback from Centerville
via Jacksonburg, Nettle Creek, Boyd, New Castle, Middletown, Chesterfield, Anderson and
Pendleton to Noblesville.
Henry Pierce of Middletown kept a store in a small log hut composed of round logs, mostly
buckeye which would sprout in the spring of the year. He was also the Postmaster and it
was here that Jack Fessler and the other Virginians from Rockingham and elsewhere had to
call for their mail.
Whiskey was abundant and cheap and was freely used by the inhabitants probably for the
same purpose that Andy Johns recommended it to the people of West Tennessee, as "an
antidote for the ague."
It is believed that the first birth of a white child in Henry County was that of a son
born to Mr, and. Mrs Whitinger in 1819. The Whitingers were among the first settlers of
Henry Township. They remained a short time before moving away.
T. B. Woodward, son of Asahel Woodward was the second white child bom in the county. He
was bom December 23, 1819, and died in 1863. Pyrrhus Woodward was born August 1st 1822.
The first marriage on record in the County Clerks office is that of Francis Crum and Sarah
Dayid. This couple were united, in marriage on the 23rd of April, 1823, by James Johnson,
Justice of the Peace.
The first will admitted to probate was that of Thomas Cox proven before Rene Juliana,
Clerk, September 23, 1822,
The first band (before 1842) was composed of; A. Guening teacher, E flat clarionet; Matt
Ward, first E flat Clarionet; 'William Wayman, second E Flat clarionet; M.E.
McMeans; first B flat Clarionet; Richard Goodwin, second B flat clarionet; A. D. Rogers,
piccolo; J. A. McMeans, plain trumpet; James Kinsey; first French horn; G. W. Goodwin
Sr., second French horn; J, H. Mellett, tenor trombone; George Scott, base trombon and
William Kinsey base trombon.
On April I, 1884, much damage was done near Middletown, by a heavy storm (cyclone).
James_Sanders was killed by a falling building.
Samuel Batson visited Cincinnati some time in July, 1833, and soon after returning home he
fell ill. His sisters Mrs Laboyteaux, who lived near, visited him during his sickness,
and was with him when he died, August 11, 1833 of cholera. After he was buried she
returned home, and soon afterward was taken sick. Mrs Laboyteaux's daughter, Mrs John
Ross of New Castle, visited her mother and remained with her until she died. The funeral
of Mrs Laboyteaux was on Sunday; on the same evening Mrs. Ross returned home. So far no
one knew the nature of the disease. Other persons in the Batson neighborhood took the
disease and died. Mrs Ross, after reaching New Castle, was taken violently ill on Monday
morning, and died in the afternoon of the same day. Three of her children died, two before
midnight and one the next day. Mrs Webster, a young widow, who attended the ross family,
died on Tuesday. Among the others who died were mrs. Jesse Bedsaul, Mrs Abraham Elliott,
Mrs Samuel Hawn, th!
e wife of Dr. Penny and Dr. John Elliott.
William Silver was one of the early merchants of New Castle. He sold out to
Milles Murphey about 1830.
John Smith built a cabin about 1824, near Bedsaul's store, and began keeping a tavern.
He remained but a short time, and was succeeded by Anthony Boggs.
Nathan Crawford, blacksmith, was the first mechanic to locate in New Castle.
A man named Mitchell started a tannery, a few years later he sold out to John Powell.
The Corys were probably the first families to locate in Blue River Township. The first
death is believed to have been that of Eleanor, wife of Abraham Cory, and the second that
of Esther, wife of Joseph Cory.
Andrew Baldwin, born in North Carolina in 1816, come to Indiana with his parents.
Richard Hawley, a native of Pennsylvania, settled in Dudley Township in 1822. He died in
1839, Age fourty-four.
Benjamin Stratton, from Ohio, came to Dudley Township in 1825. Ephraim and Joseph were two
of his sons. Caleb Cope, a son-in-law of Benjamin Stratton, was an early settler.
Caleb Pope taught the first school about 1830, in John Bradway's cabin.
Sallie Thompson was born Sallie Mitchell in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1777. In the
year 1785 her father, Major Robert Mitchell, and nine other men with their families
started for Kentucky by the old Cumberland trail, Major Mitchell leading the company. Near
Fort Pitt the emigrants were surprised by the Indians, and Sallie Mitchell, then eight
years old, was captured. She was four years a prisoner among the savages and four years a
slave in Canada. Two years of her capitivity she spent with the Pawnee Indians on the
head waters of the Whitewater River, now in Henry County, Indiana. She escaped or was
rescued from her captivity and subsequently married John Thompson, a pioneer settler near
Indianapolis.
She was the mother of John W. Thompson, of Indianapolis; also Mrs Naomi Hobart, of New
Castle.
She died in Springfield, Kentucky, in 1852.
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