I hope you enjoy the history of the area which sets the background for what
was happening when your ancestors arrived. Putting the history, geography,
and the people together in time is fascinating. I lived in Indianapolis for
the first 22 years of my life and never knew how Pogue's Run got its name.
Source: Logan's Indianapolis Directory; 1868; by Indianapolis: Logan & Co
1818
By treaty at St. Marys, Ohio, October 2, between the Delaware Indians and
Lewis CASS, Johnathan JENNINGS and Benjamin PARKE, United States
Commissioners, the former ceded all their lands in central Indiana, agreeing
to give possession in 1821. The reported fertility and beauty of "the new
purchase," as it was afterward called, excited the frontierman, and,
without waiting for possession to be given under the treaty, they entered it
at various points. William CONNER, an Indian Trader, had settled at a
Delaware village on White River, four miles this side of Noblesville,
several years before this date. His location drew the attention of others
to that stream, and several persons from Fayette and Wayne counties, visited
this section just before and after the treaty. In the Spring of 1819, two
brothers, named Jacob and Cyrus WHITZEL, having got permission of the old
Delaware chief, blazed a trace from the Whitewater river to the bluffs of
White River. They remained and raised a crop there during the Summer, and
moved their families out in October. (Jacob WHITZEL died there July 2,
1827.) Lewis WHITZEL, the noted Indian Scout, celebrated in border annals,
was a brother of these men and visited them there shortly thereafter, while
on his way to Louisiana. Late in the Fall of 1818, Dr. DOUGLAS had ascended
the river from the lower settlements, stopping awhile at the bluffs; and
James PAXTON descended it from the headwaters, reaching this point in
January, 1820. These exploring trips were attended with some risk, for the
Indians were in full possession and not well disposed toward the intruders.
1819
According to most authorities, the honor due to the first settler belongs to
George POGUE, a blacksmith from Whitewater who reached this point from that
section March 2, 1819. After reaching the river he turned back and built
his cabin on the high ground east of the creek which now bears his name,
close to a large spring, and near the present eastern end of Michigan
Street. The ruins of this cabin were visible for many years afterward.
POGUE was killed by Indians about daybreak one morning in April, 1821. His
horses had been disturbed during the night, he declared the Indians were
stealing them, and taking his rifle set out in pursuit. When last seen he
was near their camp, gunshots were heard, and as his horses and clothes were
afterward seen in their possession little doubt remained as to his fate.
His death greatly excited the settlers, but their numerical weakness
prevented any effort to avenge it. The creek on which he settled, which
then pursued a very winding course through the south-east part of the plat,
alarming the inhabitants by its floods, received his name and remains a
lasting memorial of the first inhabitant of the present city.
POGUE'S claim as the first settler has been contested, and in a published
article by Dr. S. G. MITCHELL, in the Indianapolis Gazette, in the Summer
of 1822, it is stated that the McCORMICK'S were the first emigrants in
February, 1820, and that POGUE arrived with others in March, 1820, a month
later. It is singular that this statement, if ill-founded, should not have
been contradicted publicly in the paper at the time, but the weight of
tradition is against it and concurs in fixing POGUE'S arrival in 1819.
Nan