History-Hamilton Township History Of Delaware County
T. B. Helm
1881

Lora Radiches

HAMILTON TOWNSHIP

LOCATION - BOUNDARY - NATURAL FEATURES.

Hamilton is situated in the north part of the county, and embraces an area of thirty square miles, Union Township bounds it on the north, Delaware on the east, Center on the south, and Harrison on the west.

The surface is generally level, excepting in the eastern part of the township, where it is broken by a stretch of rolling land, known as "Sugar Bidge," extending from north to south across the township.

The soil is uniformly fertile, being composed of a rich, clayey loam.

Its peculiar adaptability to the cultivation of the grains and fruits common to this latitude has made agricultural pursuits the principal industry of the township.

Big Kill Buck Creek is the only stream of any importance flowing through the central portion, and leaving the township at the northwest corner.

The timber that covered the ground prior to the early settlement, was similar to that in other portions of the county, consisting principally of oak, ash, beech, maple, walnut and poplar.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

Like its neighbor on the west, this township did not begin to have an individual existence until a comparatively late day, and the early pioneer incidents are so closely allied with those of the original townships that, to separate them and assign to the history of this township only those events which transpired within its present limits, is a task by no means easy; and this is rendered still more difficult by the loss of the earlier records, of which, if ever kept, have been mislaid, and their existence impossible to discover. Personal recollections alone are left as as a basis from which to compile this chapter.

It is stated by Joel Russell that the first white settler of the township was Andrew Elliott Boggs, formerly a citizen of the State of Ohio, where he lived in comfortable circumstances and was reputed wealthy. He was evidently a man of some mark in his old home, as he represented that district in the State Legislature of Ohio, and held other positions of honor and trust. He has engaged in enterprises in that State, which proved unfortunate, and he saw the accumulations of a lifetime swept away. To amend his shattered fortunes, he repaired to the new lands of the West but seemed pursued by a relentless fate, and all his efforts to regain what he had lost were unavailing. He did not possess the means to purchase the land upon which he settled, and was driven from point to point as settlers arrived and entered the lands upon which he had no claim more valid than the "squatter's" title. He was an enterprising man. and always made a small "improvement" and erected a cabin on the land where he located. At what date he last settled here is not known; but in the spring of 1829, he was living with his wife and one child and a step-son, Nicolas Friend, in a rude log hut erected by himself and step-son on the land entered by Owen Russell in that year. He had cleared a small piece of ground here, and was trying to earn subsistence for his family from the products of his "clearing." Mr. Russell gave him a yoke of oxen for his labors on the land, after which he took up a temporary residence on the present Vick farm, where he remained until again dispossessed by having the land purchased by another. The same experience was repeated year after year, and still his fortunes did not improve sufficiently to enable him to purchase a home, at least so long as he remained in this county. Each time he was thus dispossessed, he moved farther north, and finally settled in the adjoining county of Blackford, where all trace of him is lost. His step-son is said to have been fond of the chase, and a successfull bear and deer slayer, yet, withal, an industrious man, and a valuable assistant to his step-father in the labors incident to the home life. Owen Russell, who came to occupy the land on which Boggs first settled, was a native of Virginia, from which State he removed to Alliance, Ohio, and during his residence in that place, married Elizabeth Sumpter. In October, 1829, he started with his wife and six children for the home in Indiana, his household effects being packed in a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, with one yoke of which he subsequently remunerated Boggs for his improvement. The wagon containing his family was drawn by two horses. Nineteen days after leaving home, he reached a point two miles north of Muncie, and moved his family into a cabin owned by Joseph Bennett, where they remained during the winter of that year. In the meantime the father erected a cabin on his own land, into which the family moved in the following spring. The land which he entered is now owned and occupied by Henry Hamilton.

Mr. Russell was an energetic man, a good farmer, and accumulated a competence. He was a leader among his fellows in the early days, but never held any official positions. He finally sold the old home farm and purchased one in Center Township, upon which he resided until his disease. Of the children who came with him to the home in the forest, Joel alone now survives, He is a farmer well known and respected.

Late in the fall of 1829, Adam Shaffer, with his wife and one child, came to the township and settled upon a tract of land, one and a quarter miles west of Russell, where he cleared and improved a farm. He was a hardy backwoodsman, made of just such material and possessiong just such characteristics as were essinitial to success in the undertaking in which he engaged. He lived to reap an adequate reward item his labors, and died on the farm which he had cleared and improved.

After the arrival of these pioneers, the township settled very slowly for several years, and no entries of land earlier than 1831 appear in the tract book, with the exceptions previously mentioned. The tract entered in that year was in Section 24, and Samuel Massey was the purchaser. Peter Williamson was probably the next settler, as his date of purchase is October 2, 1831. James Nottingham purchased a tract of land in the adjoining section (25) one day later.

There were no roads through the township at that time, and no means of communication between the settlers, each family being almost as completely isolated as though they were the sole tenants of the woods; for in very few cases did the lands of the scattered settlers adjoin those of their neighbors, and even when such was the ease, the intervening wilderness obscured the smoke from the neighboring cabin, and the ringing of axes alone betokened the existence of other human beings.

During the years 1834 and 1835, immigration received a new impetus, if we may judge from the amount of land purchased in those years. Robert Kirkpatrick purchased the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 12, in 1834; Daniel Smith and Archibald Smith purchased lands in Section 14; Stephen R. Martin purchased lands and settled in Section 24; and Stanley L. Robertson in Section 29.

In 1835, lands were purchased by Henry Huddleson, in Section 12; Samuel R. Collier and Abraham Slover, in Section 27; Josiah D. Williams and Joshua Turner, in Section 29; and William R. Moore, John H. Collins, Samuel Moore and Isaac Freeman, in Section 30. The dates of purchase establish with tolerable accuracy the time of arrival of these settlers, as the lands were nearly always entered but a short time prior, or a short time subsequent to their occupation by the claimants. If this precaution were neglected, there were not wanting those who would eye the claim eagerly until a small clearing had been made and a cabin erected on the land, when, finding that the occupant had no title to his home, they would hie away to the land office and purchase the tract, which would readily sell again at an advanced price, in view of the "improvement" it contained.

During the years 1836 and 1837, all the lands in the township remaining unsold were purchased and occupied by the following persons:

1836---George Leard and William Baldridge, Section 1; Jackson Green, Isaac Shideler, William Martin and William McCormick, Section 2; Thomas Errell, Section 3; Alvin Sleeth, Section 4; Henry Shaffer and Stephen R. Davis, Section 10; James McCormick, Sr., Section 11; Waitsell W. Carey, Section 13; Elijah Reeves and Samuel Martin, Jr., Section 23; Stephen Norris, Section 28; Lewis Moore, John Miller and William P. Williams, Section 30.

1837---Thomas Stafford, Section 5; William Arnold, Section 6; John Weidner, Section 19.

In 1840, there were only 118 free holders in the township, according to the tax duplicate for that year, and a number of these were non-residents, who had purchased lands for speculation. How many of the following-named persons belonged to the latter class, it is impossible to say. In the subjoined list, the figures on the right represent the amount of tax paid by each:



Ten years later (1850), the United States census showed a total population of only 462 souls--the smallest population of any township in the county.

The increase during the next ten years, however, was as great, perhaps, as that of any of the neighboring townships, the number of inhabitants in 1860 having become 861, an increase of 389 since the former census. In 1870, there were living in the township 1,080 native American citizens, and forty-nine of foreign birth, and the census returns for the present year (1880), show the total population of Hamilton to be 1,217.

EARLY EVENTS.

In a new settlement the occurrence of events that, until then, were without parallel, are marked by an unusual interest, and live long in the memories of their witnesses, coming naturally to the surface in a review of the olden times by one of the surviving members of the pioneer community; and although subsequent events, transpiring in the same locality, may be of more consequence, and fraught with more important results, they are sometimes suffered to perish from memory, while the first of their kind live.

This is true in the present instance. The date of the first marriage, the first birth of a white child, and the first death in the settlement, can be stated with accuracy. These were, of course, important, as illustrating the dawn of civilization in the wilderness, and the introduction into its gloom of customs and events which had their counterparts in the older settled localities from which their participants had come; but the date of the first election, the officers chosen at that time, and other equally important questions affecting the civil existence of the township, could not be obtained with accuracy from any of the old settlers interviewed during the collection of material for this history.

In 1830, Owen Russell set out the first orchard in the township, having purchased 100 seedling trees at a nursery in Wayne County, Ind., and fully one-half of this number are still fruitful trees. To the log cabin in which he first lived, Mr. Russell put up a framed addition, two or three years after his arrival. This was really the first frame building of any kind erected in the township, and the first frame house of modern style was erected by him in 1840. Stephen R. Martin, Stephen Hamilton and Joel Russell all erected frame dwelling houses within a short time after the building of the first.

The first white child born in the settlement was Riley, son of Adam Shaffer. The date of his advent into this world was the year 1831. In the following year the dark pall of death was first thrown over the settlement. Charles Hopkins, who came with the family of Owen Russell, was in delicate health when he came, and his malady subsequently developed into consumption, from which he died in 1832. The township then contained no cemetery, and his remains were taken to Muncie for interment. For several years later the deceased members of the community were buried on their own farms or in the cemetery at Muncie. In 1840, Thomas Reeves donated a portion of his farm for which he executed a deed "to the Clerk of the Court," and his successors in office forever, for the use of the public as a burial ground." This was the first in the township and has ever since been used for the purpose prescribed in the deed.

In 1833, Esquire John Marshall, of Muncie, was sent for to perform the first marriage ceremony in the township, at the house of Owen Russell. The contracting parties were James Nottingham and Miss Elizabeth, daughter of the host.

ORGANIZATION.

The act erecting Hamilton into a civil township was passed by the Board of County Commissioners in 1838, but there are no records from which can be ascertained the proceedings of the first town meeting, or the Board of Trustees by whom the township business was transacted. The Trustee's office contains no records earlier than 1853. The constitution of the State, as revised two years previously, made the keeping of records obligatory upon the Township Clerk, and these records have been preserved. The first entry in this volume is a record of a meeting held by the Trustees April 11, 1853. The members present were Stephen R. Martin, Aaron Moore and Jacob H. Slonaker, Trustees, and A. J. Green, Clerk. Stephen R. Martin was chosen President of the board for a term of three years, and Samuel Strohm (who had been previously elected), took his seat as a member of the Board of Trustees.

April 16, 1853, the board met, pursuant to adjournment, and transacted no further business than to levy a tax of 10 cents on each $100 of taxable property, for township purposes.

At the next meeting, May 20, 1853, we find the first record of money paid for school purposes. At this meeting, William N. Jackson was allowed $41.30 for services as teacher in District No. 5. Money was then disbursed for other purposes as follows: To John Robinson, for services as Trustee, $2; to George Northcutt, for services as Township Clerk, $9; to Jonathan Martin, for teaching school in District No. 2, $23.70; to John Hatfield, for teacher in District No. 1, $9.10; Jacob H. Slonaker, for services as Trustee, $1.75; Isaac Shideler, Township Treasurer, $3.25; to Isaac Freeman, receiver of Wilson F. Steen, teacher in District No.4, $18.95: to Stacie A. Haines, teacher in District No. 7, $60; to Isaac Freeman, for services as School Trustee, $l.25; to John B. Armstrong, $6; for extra labor as Supervisor; to Seth R. Martin, $l; Levi Beal, $4.25; Alexander Snider, $5.25; and William McCormick, $2.25, for services as Supervisors.

August 20, 1853, the board met, to select sites for schoolhouses, and ordered a meeting of the qualified voters of the township, to act upon the proposition of raising a fund by taxation for the building and repair of schoolhouses. The total number of votes cast was twenty-nine, of which number twenty-two were in the affirmative. Immediately after this decision, the Trustees ordered a tax of 50 cents on each $100 of taxable property, and an equal amount on each poll to be confirmed for three years.

At the next meeting, held August 27, 1853, the only business transacted was the disbursement of money due the Road Supervisors. At an election held April 10, 1854, Aaron Moore was elected Trustee for a term of three years; Jacob H. Slonaker, Treasurer; and Andrew J. Green, Clerk. The following Supervisors of Roads were elected: Robert Mansfield District No. 1; David Pixly, District No. 2; Samuel Drake, District No, 3: John Cullen, District No. 4; John Stradling, District No. 5; John Freeman, District No. 6.

At the same meeting (April 10, 1854), there was a tax of 2 cents on $l00, and 1 cent on each acre of land, levied for road purposes, to be paid in work by the residents of the several road districts. The following list of names returned for taxation, shows the residents of the districts at that date:

District No. 1.--Harrison Green, Jesse C. Dowden, John Barton, John Noe, James Powell, George Haze, Adam Feight, Andrew Cate, Hiram Green, Andrew J. Green, James Wood, Isaac Shideler, Hamilton Duddleston, Thomas Hughes, James Barton, Jacob H. Slonaker, William McCormick, Joseph McCormick, Daniel Jackson, John F. Benjamin, John R. Mansfield, Robert Mansfield, James Wilcoxon, William Barton.

District No. 2. --Levi Beal, George Northcutt, John Northcutt, Henry Stafford, George Fullhart, Harvey Steepleton, Thomas Stafford, David Paxley, Uriah Low, Robert Collins, Joshua Wilsoh, Nathan Dean, William Jackson.

District No. 3. --David Snider, Samuel Drake, George Arnold, John Chandler, Alvie Lee, Joseph Melson, William Gard, John Little, Joseph Berry, George Berry.

District No. 4. --WilIiam P. Shaffer, Joel Russell, Stephen R. Martin, Timothy Bennett, Henry Lake, Isaac Glass, William Russell, John Boone, James Williamson, John Cullen, William Sleeth, Loyd Wilcoxon, Riley Shaffer, Calvin Roberts, Mark Moore.

District No. 6. --Aaron Moore, Samuel Horner, Solomon A. Burriss, Francis Horner, Hiram Gilmore, Joseph Horner, Joshua Turner, Emamuel Aldridge, David Beard, Isaac Blunt, Jeremiah Armstrong, Butler Sears, John Sears, James Goodrich, John Freeman, Andrew R. Hooker, Watson Adams.

During the year 1855, the Trustees entered into contracts with the following persons, to build schoolhouses at the locations designated: William N. Jackson contracted to build a frame house (location not designated), for $312.50; Amos Wilson contracted to build one frame house "at the corner of Section 5," for $325, and Lewis Smith contracted to build a similar structure in Section 11, for $312.50. In July, 1856, a contract was awarded to George W. Miller, for building a frame schoolhouse in District, No. 2, $312.50, and, in May, 1860, to John H. Collins for building one at the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of Section 27, for which he received $312.50. The record of this board closes with the year 1860, at which time the law was so amended as to relegate its duties to one Trustee, who was invested with all the authority of the former board. The present incumbent of this office is Duncan Williams.

SCHOOLS.

We have been able to gather but a limited amount of information touching the early schools of this township. The system possessed all that element of crudeness that, with a few exceptions, characterized our pioneer schools. Whenever a deserted cabin could be secured, and a man with the requisite qualifications of a "schoolmaster" could be employed, a subscription was made up by the settlers to renumerate him for his services. These have passed into history under the title of "subscription schools." They were the outgrowth of the times in which they existed, and their imperfections and the limited means afforded by them for the acquisition of knowledge, led, perhaps, more directly than any other consideration, to the establishment and perfection of the educational system now in vogue, and which has shed such a benign influence over the public morals, and elevated the standard of public intelligence. In this township the first public school was taught by Joseph Custer, in the winter of 1838-39. The cabin in which he taught stood on the land of Thomas Reeves. It was used as a schoolhouse during the week, and was also the place where tile early religious meetings were held.

About two years later a cabin was erected especially for school purposes, on the farm of George Shaffer. This also served the purposes of a church to some extent as, whenever a minister of the Gospel made his appearance in the settlement, he was invited to preach at this house, whither the residents all repaired, whatever might be their religious creeds. An account of each new schoolhouse erected thereafter, or the schools conducted by each teacher subsequently employed, would, be but a repetition of its predecessor, at least so long as the old method of conducting schools continued in force.

The school system did not begin to have the form of an organized institution until after the passage of the law creating a fund for the establishment and maintenance of free schools; and it is a fact much to the credit of the residents of Hamilton, that the first proposition to levy a tax in the township for this purpose was so cordially sustained--only seven votes being cast against it, while twenty-two were cast in its favor.

It is probable that the old log buildings still standing as relies of the "subscription" system were converted into free schools upon the adoption of the new law of 1851-52; for, until 1855, the record shows no account of schoolhouses erected. In that year, however, $1,262.50 were paid from the township treasury, for this purpose alone--this amount having been disbursed for the erection of four schoolhouses; an average cost of $315.62½ each.

In 1853, $129.35 were paid for teachers' salaries in three school districts of the township, and, in 1854, $274.36 were paid to the teachers of schools in five districts, for terms of three months each.

The following statement of the condition of the public schools in Hamilton Township, for the year ending on the first Monday in April, 1854, was duly rendered and filed with the Auditor of Delaware County:

Total number of children between the ages of five and twenty-one years, 275; number of males between the ages of five and thirteen years, 91; number of males between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one years, 58; number of females between the ages of five and thirteen years, 80; number of females between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one years, 46; number of chihlren who have attended school during the past year, 225; number of males between the ages of five and thirteen years attending school, 73; number of males between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one years attending school, 50; number of females between the ages of five and thirteen years attendrig school, 63; number of females, between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one years, attending school, 39; average daily attendance, 122.5; number of teachers employed, 5; number of schools, 5; number of male teachers, 4; number of female teachers, 1; average wages of male teachers per month, $19.44 2/3; average wages of female teachers per month, $15.33 1/3; length of term, 62 days; amount of expense for instruction during the year, $279.36; amount of public funds appropriated to the township, $318.12; amount charged by township officers for managing the educational affairs of the township, $33.

A report of the same subject by the Township Trustee, for the year ending August 81, 1880, shows the following condition of educational affairs within the township:

Number of white pupils admitted within the year, 381; average daily attendance, 208.8; total number of districts in the township, 11; length of term, 143.9 days; number of male teachers employed, 10; number of female teachers employed, 8; number of brick schoolhouses, 5; number of frame schoolhouses, 6; estimated value of schoolhouses, $5,500; estimated value of apparatus, including globes, maps, charts, etc., $200; number of volumes in Township Library, 150.

ACCOUNT OF REVENUE FOR TUITION.

Amount on hand September 1, 1879 .............................. $1,482 93
Amount received in February, 1880 .................................... 917 56
Amount received in June, 1880 ........................................ 1,031 23
Miscellaneous receipts .......................................................... 116 74

     Total ................................................................................ $3,548 46

Amount expended since September 1, 1879 ................. $2,390 60

Amount on hand at date of report .................................... $1,157 86

The several schoolhouses in the township are under the supervision of the following teachings: District No. 1 (Slonicker Schoolhouse)--A. Kirkpatrick; District No. 2 (Stafford Schoolhouse)--George Mansfield; District No. 3 (Gerrard Schoolhouse)--Olive Ardery; District No. 4 (Williamson's Schoolhouse)--Alice Reid; District No. 5 (Center Sehoolhouse)--Edward Stradling; District No. 6 (Jake's Creek Schoolhouse) Hugh Cowing; District No. 7 (Weir Schoolhouse)--Clara Dombaugh; District No. 8 (Abbott's Schoolhouse)---Samuel Dragoo; District No. 9 (Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse)--James Lewis; District No. 10 (Royerton Schoolhouse)--Robert Monroe; District No. 11 (Shideler Schoolhouse)--Robert Stafford.

CHURCHES.

Royerton Christian Church.--Until 1852, the meetings of this denomination were conducted at irregular intervals, and under no form of organization, by ministers who passed through the township enroute to other points. In that year, however, under the ministerial offices of Elder Henry Grist, the society was organized at Center Schoolhouse. Among the original constituent members were John Strohm, Melissa Strohm, Rebecca Parker, Susanna Parker, Vincent Garner, Samuel S. White and Mary White.

The schoolhouse continued to be the place of worship for a number of years; but, having no regular Pastor, the interest of some of the members began to wane, and the meetings were discontinued. In 1870, however, through the efforts of Elder Andrew Younce, the organization was revived and sprang into new life. Meetings were held at the schoolhouse for another year, at the end of which time John Royer donated the lot upon which the present house of worship was erected, before the close of the year 1871.

This edifice was dedicated by Elder George Thompson, and Elder Jacob Vincent was installed as Pastor, remaining one year. At the end of that time he was succeeded by Elder Andrew Younce, who remained two years, and was followed by Elder Ward, who remained only a few months. Elders Oliver and Tyne Carmichael preached alternately during the next year, since which time the church has been without a regular Pastor.

VILLAGES.

The Village of Royerton--In 1870, John Royer set apart forty acres from his farm and divided it into town lots, one of which he reserved as a site for a schoolhouse, and another for a church. During the preceding year, Mr. Royer kept a store and post office at this point. The store is kept at the present time by Alvin Dearth, who is also the Postmaster. The village contains one saw-mill, with a run of buhrs for grinding corn, owned and operated by George Johnsonbaugh, and one tile-factory, owned and operated by Abbott & Dearth.






The Village of Shideler--was founded in 1871, by Isaac Shideler, the original owner of the land upon which it is situated. He was the Postmaster and store-keeper, in which occupation he still continues. Both villages are stations on the Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati Railroad.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS--1879.

Wheat 1,000 acres, 20,000 bushels; corn, 1,500 acres, 6,000 bushels; oats, 300 acres, 6,000 bushels: Irish potatoes, 100 acres, 3,000 bushels; flax, 300 acres, 2,400 bushels of seed; meadow, 300 acres, 600 tons hay, 50 bushels seed; clover, 200 acres; pasture land, 1,000 acres.

TOWNSHIP EXPENDITURES--1879.

Amount expended on roads .............................................. $278
Amount expended for road implements .............................. 75
Amount paid Supervisors ..................................................... 50
Amount paid for repair of schoolhouses ......................... 100
Amount paid for fuel ........................................................... 150
Amount paid to teachers .................................................. 2,381
Amount paid for sheep killed by dogs ................................ 45
Amount paid Trustees for services .................................. 100

     Total ............................................................................. $3,179

(Pages 245-249 including bios)


John A Willson, Wm A McClellan, Duncan Williams Bios
Harrison Township
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