Regarding Native Americans in Randolph Co, I have several lines who were in
Randolph at one time or another, the main one of these being Myers. According
to my father, we have Indian in our blood lines, but I have never been able to
pinpoint where that might be.
One possibility is from James Moore (whose granddaughter married my
Myers great grandfather). James Moore was from NC and appears to have left
there during the time when Indians were being forced from the area.
He and his wife Sarah went
to Randolph Co IN where she soon died, apparently in childbirth or soon after
(ca 1837). I have read or heard that there was an Indian reservation in
Randolph
around the time they went there and have wondered if possibly they did go
there to escape Indian troubles in the south because of the possibility that
one or both of them had Indian roots. I have never been able to determine
if there was actually a reservation there, but I did find the following
article
which certainly indicates that there was a substantial Indian population in
the area of Randolph County. And since the Parkers were also from NC, perhaps
my James Moore had heard of the area and thought it might be more amenable
than where he was in NC. Pure speculation. I have found no proof whatsoever.
The Quaker Trace
The old "Quaker Trace," was a trail or road that led northward from
Wayne county to Fort Wayne in the early pioneer period. When the
pioneers cut this road through the forest, all of present Randolph
county and a fractional part of Jay county were still incorprated in
original Wayne county, which had been set off by the territorial
legislature in 1810.
Randolph county was organized in 1818. Thomas W. Parker, his wife and
three children, a Quaker family from North Carolina, came to present
Randolph county in 1814 and entered land east of the boundary
established by the Greenville Treaty line.
In 1815 Fort Wayne became a place of meeting for the payment of
annuities of the Indians, and a great deal of trade was carried on there
with the Indians. Fort Wayne was evacuated as a military post in 1819
but it became a depot for trade in furs, provisions, whiskey, and other
supplies.
The earliest regular track through the Randolph forest of any
considerable length was the "Quaker Trace." Although most of the trade
from the upper reaches of the Whitewater in the early days went south to
Cincinnati, a number of settlers sought an outlet to Fort Wayne for
trade with the Indians.
The "Trace" was surveyed by Enos Grave. The road was opened by Paul
Swain, William Simmons, Thomas Roberts, Daniel Fisher, Nathan and Henry
Hunt of Frankin township; Abraham Ashley, Enos Grave of Wayne township,
and many others.
The "Quaker Trace" extended through Arba, Spartanburg, Bartonia, South
Salem, west of Union City, through Mount Holly, Allenville, crossing the
Mississinewa river north of that place, through North Salem, and
crossing the Wabash river at Jay City, Jay county, near New Corydon.
Some of these early hamlets have disappeared. The road was cut wide
enough for one wagon to pass. It wound around ponds and big logs and
trees and quagmires, forded the Mississinewa and the Wabash, and so on
to Fort Wayne. Squire James C. Bowen, who came to Randolph county in
1814 said the "Quaker Trace" was made in 1817.
Much of this route remains and is used today in Randolph County.
From - Union City Times-Gazette, Wednesday, September 8, 1943 with
additional input from Tucker's History of Randolph County, Indiana (1882).