---- Original Message -----
From: Sandy McBeth
To: gghickman(a)earthlink.net
Sent: 10/4/03 6:14:23 PM
Subject: Re: Spraggins Church
Sorry I did not e-mail the information straight to the list, but every time I send an
e-mail to the Pike list I get kicked off the list.
According to the 1881 plat map the Spraggins Church, Cemetery and Schoolhouse were all
together at the intersection of 300S and 775E. The church and cemetery were on one side of
the road and the school was on the other.
If you take 257 from Otwell toward Velpen you can turn left onto 250S, go to 775E and turn
right. 300S intersects with 775E at a tee. The school was on the right side of the road
just before the tee and the cemetery was on the left with the church just behind the
cemetery (sort of on 300S) according to the 1881 map. The current plat map shows the
church on 775E just south of where the school stood. It is my understanding this is not
the same church that was there in 1881. I do not know when it was rebuilt, but I do know
it is suppose to be across the road from the cemetery location. I have! not been there for
years and a friend of mine said last time she was there she could not find the cemetery.
As soon as tick and deer season is over I will go up there and take a look.
Sandy McBeth
This is what I have on the Spraggins School:
On July 31, 1860 Jesse and Mary Spraggins sold a piece of property to the Marion township,
Pike County Indiana school district for $5.00. At the courthouse the deed is recorded as
follows: �This indenture witnesses that Jesse and Mary Jane Spraggins convey and warrant
to the inhabitants of School District #3 of Marion Township, Pike County, Indiana for the
sum of $5.00 the following real estate towit: Commencing at a stake 100 rods south of the
� mile corner of Sec. 1 Town 2 Range 7 west, thence south 6 degrees, east, 10 rods to a
stake, then south 84 degrees, east 4 rods to a stake, thence north 6 degrees, west 10
rods, to a stake, thence 84 degrees, 4 rods to the beginning, containing 1/! 4 of an acre,
it being a part of the S. W. quarter of the N. E. quarter of Sec. 1 Town 2 South 7 W.�
This is where the Spraggins school was built.
According to an article written by Oda Dearing which was printed in Pike County History,
Bicentennial Edition 1776-1976 the following teachers taught at the Spraggins school: S.
P. Borders, J. W. Chambers, Dr. Daniel E. Taylor, Dr. John Miller, W. F. Risley, Willie
Ridge, A. V. Hostetter, Charles Smith, Emma Anderson, Abbie Sullivan, Charles Hayes, G. R.
Dorsey, Willie Offill, George Smith, Pearl Dearing, Claude Kemp, Heber Howard, Opal
Tisdale, Lawrence Corn, Gerald W. Chambers, Raymond Corn and Emma Irene Wood.
According to Dearing the school was moved �one mile east� near the property of Lee Risley
around 1905 to keep the neighborhood boys from vandalizing the school when they were
suppose to be in church which was located next to the school. The Spraggins School was
closed in the late 1930's.
At! 10:08 AM 10/4/03 -0700, you wrote:
Would any one on the list happen to know the location of the old Spraggins Church ? It was
still in use in 1909. It may have been around the Velpen area. I plan on being in the
area in April to visit the cemetery and would love the see where the school and church
used to be.
Gayle
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