Eaton , Indiana - Eaton is a product of the coming of Delaware county's second railroad, the old Ft. Wayne & Southern railway (present Lake Erie & Western--Ft. Wayne division), and was laid out along the line of the survey of that road at its junction with the Greenville and Marion state road there along the right bank of the Mississinewa in the northwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 23 of town 22, range 11 (Union), on June 19, 1854, by George H. Babb and Joel W. Long , guardian for Reason T. Harris and David Harris . The original Plat provided ample space on the west side of the tract for railway depot grounds. North, Harris and South streets were the east-and- West streets and Hartford, Center and Front were the north-and. south streets, the latter fronting the railway grounds, all sixty feet in width.
(Source: History of Delaware County, Indiana , Frank D. Haimbaugh, 1924, Vol 1, page 405)

Elizabethtown , Indiana- the oldest village of the township, it is said, once aspired to the honor of becoming a county seat. But as fate would have it, the county lines were drawn in the wrong place, and the court house and other public buildings seen in the day dreams of the people of the northeast corner of Washington township proved to be but "castles in the air," and so the mayor's scepter of the great city was turned into plowshares and pruning hooks, and Elizabethtown is no more, and the only towns or villages of Washington township are Wheeling and Gaston. The latter has passed through the ordeal of undergoing some two or three changes of name, such as "Snagtown", then "New Corner", and now Gaston. However, the little city has stood all this nobly, and is now threatening some older places in the way of becoming a rival for railroad honors.
(Source: Our County, Its History and Early Settlement by Townships , John S. Ellis, 1898 - Washington Township, page 184)

Nathaniel Fuller Ethrell Describes the Physical and Mental Attributes of Some Early Settlers in Delaware County

Looking back through the glasses of memory, I see many tall and stalwart forms among the pioneers of the town and county. Topping all are the forms of Job Swain, John Cecil and Joseph Edmonds . Jacob Calvert , out of whose fertile acres Normal City was made, was tall, with swarthy complexion, as also was his son William . He was of a Maryland family, I think. The Neelys, Thomas and Moses , were tall and large men. Robert Meeks was tall and in later years heavy--a tremendous worker. His brother Isaac , also a great worker, was slighter in build but above medium height. Doctor Willard was taller than his brother Charles , who was more heavily set, but over medium in height. The Gilberts were a sturdy set of medium height, setting the pace for industry and thrift, building the town. The Carmichaels , south of town, were tall and spare, as were the Gibsons spare, broad-backed men, shouldering their way into the sunlight through the forests and turning up the soil among the stumps, making farms of value. Jesse Nixon was tall and large in frame, while his neighbor, Liberty Ginn , was equally tall, if not more so; thin of chest, slightly round shouldered, thin and keen of face--a twain hard to beat. Henry and Arch Hamilton were taller than their father, Stephen , whose brick farm house three miles north of town on the Granville road, was for many years a landmark in the fertile region round about. ------ Thomas Bishop , who made a place west of town on White river, was a large man. The most of the Reeses were of medium height, another sturdy set of fine farmers. The Fusons were large men, as also were the Mansfields . The Driscolls were of medium height, somewhat stocky, built for service in the fight against the wild. Nate Branson was large, strong and never averse to a scrap, if it was fair, always ready to do his part in the hardships of the time. The Ribbles , whose fine farms were along White river east of town, were spare men, rather above the medium height, good men. William McCallister was large and tall, equally capable, along with his neighbors, the Shoemakers and Cromers , in making a farm paradise in the Richwoods. Thomas Kirby was tall, spare, with a ruddy complexion and a good word for everybody, one of the foremost men of the county, a model of thrift, urbanity and public spirit. ------ Minus Turner was of medium height only, but what he lacked in height he made up in muscle that never tired, strength that endured and determination equal to any emergency, forming an important link in the chain of townmakers, building more houses of brick and wood, or both, for himself and others, than any other one man--a fine specimen of pioneer and American manhood--a worthy co-laborer with the Gilberts , the Willards , the Kirbys , the Carpenters and other men foregathered to form the town out of hickory and walnut groves, hazel brush, hoop-poles, thickets, black haw trees, swamps and other centurys old accumulations of natural growth and decay. James Nottingham , a carpenter, was tall and large, as was his son Osie . John , the brother of James, was much shorter but fully capable of making a farm far out Riverside way, and always able besides to get to the Methodist church, where his "amens" were conspicuous for sympathetic following of the exhortations and prayers of emotional ministers, vieing in frequency with those of Brother Sample , in his chair facing the audience, rising now and then and beckoning late incomers to vacant seats near the mourners' bench. ------The Straddlings were not noted for height or size, but not anywhere were better farmers or honester men. But for giants, reference is made to Sampson and Abraham Jetmore , living out that way. If old King Frederick of Prussia had been overlord of Delaware county, Indiana, some twenty years after the state had been admitted to the Union he might have recruited a platoon of tall soldiers he so much admired and so widely sought for. I think, however, the recruits would have kicked that hobby of his into fertilizers for the worn out lands of the aristocracy. One could not imagine such men as the Cecils, Swains, Neelys, Gibsons, Carmichaels and Wysors tamely licking the shoes of even so potent a ruler as that old king.------ The Truitts were large, tall men, with the possible exception of Joshua . The Gregorys were large men of great height. The Heaths were slender and tall. The Armitages were large men. Henry Wysor was a large man, mentally and physically, of great public spirit. ------The Orrs , up Smithfield way, of Irish descent, were not noted for size, except Samuel , the largest and tallest--all good farmers and talkers of ability. Samuel F. Anthony was of good size, round shouldered, bald headed--wore a wig, had a great head for business, besides being a good doctor. At one time he was reported to have forty rental properties in town besides large holdings of land north west and south of town. His son Edwin was a large man. The Williamsons of Yorktown and thereabout were men of good size. J. H. Koontz was a large man, a great good citizen, representing the county in the Legislature. Judge Kilgore was a large, tall man--represented the district in Congress, a prominent lawyer, also doing stints as a farmer. ------There were many others worth naming in this connection, men of mental and physical worth--a small army of them recruited rapidly, the fame of the fertility of the land going broadcast. There was not a county in the state settled by men more uniformly able-bodied, strong in heart and muscle, determined and effective, than those who came up here in the '20s and '30s from widely separated regions and tackled the virgin forests with ax and fire and turned up the rich soil with plow and grubbing hoe, sowed and reaped, threshed wheat with flails, and kept faith with enduring industry. The size and grit and muscle and brains of these men in a great measure account for the high standing of the county in agriculture, in education and in social and material advancement.

(From Ethrell letters - Muncie Sunday Star - 1913)