I am kind of confused about Hartford being on the Old Michigan Road.
I pulled up a yahoo map of the area:
http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&addr=&city=Osgood&s....
154701&sln=-85.306396&mlt=39.081700&mln=-85.123100&name=&zip=&country=us&BFK
ey=&BFCat=&BFClient=&mag=7&desc=&cs=7&newmag=6&poititle=&poi=
and it shows Old Michigan Road a ways (15 miles?) west of Hartford near
present day Hwy 421 running from Napolean to New Carrollton in Ripley
County.
Is there a plat map of Hartford showing where the blacksmith shop, hotel and
other shops were located?
Is there a map that shows property owners back in the early days circa 1817
when the town was platted?
Thanks.
Janet
----- Original Message -----
From: <JSDorrell(a)cs.com>
To: <INOHIO-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 6:22 PM
Subject: Re: [INOHIO] Hartford Ohio Co info
A Few Excerpts of the History of Hartford:
(Chapter 13, The Ohio County Community Story, Dillon R. Dorrell, Sr.)
The village of Hartford was one of three villages on Laughery Creek in
Ohio
County, seven miles up the creek from the Ohio River on what was
known at
one
time as the "Old Michigan Road". It is one of the oldest
villages in this
section of the state and was originally laid out in 1817 by Benjamin
Walker
and his son John. They owned adjoining farms on this site and
operated a
saw
and grist mill there, said to have been erected as early as 1802.
As early as 1820 it was said that there were as many as 40 to 50 flat
boats
loading merchandise at one time before heading to New Orleans.
A number of the first settlers of Hartford were Baptist and Methodist. In
1840 a large and substantial brick house of worship was erected. The
building was 40 x 50 feet and was still in use as of 1894. The cemetery
was
near this first church.
The town boasted of a flour mill, tannery, tailor shop, three blacksmiths,
and a small distillery.
School was held at the Old Baptist meeting house that stood o the hill at
Hartford. A stone school house was build about 1831.
The general store was owned by Robert Allen and Dewitt Wilbur, and it is
said
that a day’s receipts would often exceed $1,000. Whisky sold for 12
½
cents
per gallon, and a large pitcher full, with a glass nearby, were
waiting
for
the customers.
There were two papers published in Hartford. The Hartford Methodist was
still published as of 1894. The Hartford News Budget was still in print
as
of 1903.
John Bell kept the first hotel in Hartford. It has been told that people
would go to Hartford just to stay at the hotel because it had running
water
(piped from a nearby spring).
Today the village has approximately 40 inhabitants, and the general store
is
owned by A.P. Johnson, who is the town’s only merchant. One church
of the
Methodist denomination remains in the village, and the town boasts of the
smallest Masonic Lodge in Indiana, having only 20 members.
Copies of The Ohio County Community Story may still be available from the
Ohio County Historical Society (812 438-4915 or ohiocohist(a)seidata.com).
Bill Dichtl is Director there.
John S. Dorrell Indianapolis
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