Lenox, David and Roanna

The State of Indiana, Delaware County} ss
David Lenox }
vs} Divorce
Roanna Lenox}

Be it remembered that heretofor to wit on the 18th judicial day of a regular term of the Delaware Circuit Court which began and held at the Court House in the City of Muncie, Delaware County Indiana, on Monday the 2nd day of May AD 1859 before the honorable Joseph L Buckles, sole Judge of said Court when the following decree of divorce was rendered in the above cause as follows to wit:

It is therefor considered adjudged and decreed by the Court that the bonds of Matrimony heretofor existing between the parties is dissolved and declared null and void, and it is further considered and adjudged by the Court that said plaintiff pay the costs of this proceeding, all of which is finally ordered adjudged and decreed by the Court.

The State of Indiana}
Delaware County}
I, Geo W Spilker, Clerk of the Circuit Court within and for the County and State aforesaid, certify the within and the foregoing to be a true, correct and complete transcript of the Judgment and decree of Divorce rendered by said Court, in the case of David Lenox vs Roann Lenox, as the same now appears of Record in my office.
     Witness my name and seal of
     The Circuit Court on this 15th day
     of August AD 1867.
     Geo W Spilker, Clerk

Lenox, Nancy-------------------------Statement as to Births of Minor Children----------------------------------
State of Indiana, County of Delaware}ss

I, Nancy Lenox, of the county and state above named upon oath say--That I was well acquainted with David Lenox during his lifetime, who was a Pr in Co B 84th Reg, Ind Vols, died July 1st 1864, and with Elizabeth, his wife-that said David Lenox died leaving three children under sixteen years of age to-wit-Richard Lenox, born 5th day of August 1854 -- John Lenox born July 7th 1862 and Thankful Ann Lenox born on the 15th day of November 1863 -- that said last mentioned child died on the ___of May 1865. That I was present and acted as mid-wife at the birth of the two first mentioned children to-wit, Richard and John Lenox and know that they were born in Delaware County, State of Indiana at the time above stated, and that they are the only children left by said soldier at the time of his death -- and further that I have no interest in the application of guardian for minor childs pension.

   Nancy Lenox (her mark)
Witness
   Matilda Bartlett
   G W H Kemper
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 15th day of September 1866, and I certify that I am well acquainted with the above named Nancy Lenox and know her to be repectable and entitled to full credit.
   Witness my hand and seal of the
   Delaware Circuit Court affixed
   Geo W Spilker, Clk

On Liberty Township - Excerpts from Our County, Its History and Early Settlement by Townships, John S. Ellis, 1898

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The first settlements in Liberty township were made, as is usually the case, along the water courses. In this case there were three land entries made in the township in 1822, all three being in sections 21 and 28, in the neighborhood of White River, just below the old town of Smithfield. The first of these entries was made by James Jackson, November 11, 1822, and was the east half of the southeast quarter of section 21, and now owned by Arthur S. Cecil.---The oldest town or village in Liberty, and in fact one of the oldest in the county, is the village of Smithfield. The name was given to a small collection of houses which stood here long before the town was surveyed and laid out into town lots by the original owners of the land (David Stout and William Duncan). Smithfield is one of those quaint hamlets so often seen in this age, which has relapsed from a more honorable condition, by reason of railroads and other thoroughfares, coming just close enough to miss them. Early in the fifties the Bellefontaine and Indianapolis, (now the Big Four) railroad, was built and it passed about a mile north of Smithfield. This sounded the death-knell of the village, and although there was quite a business done here for several years thereafter, the new town of Selma sprang up on the railroad, and business gradually left the old town until now it has become more valuable for cornfields than it is as a town or trading point.---We think the first merchant in Liberty township was Jeremiah Fenner. He was located at Smithfield in the general merchandising way at an early date, and after a number of years sold his stock and good will to a Mr. Garrison. Thomas Leonard opened a store here a few years later, then William Lewis in the same store-room. Mr. Lewis afterwards sold goods in the new town of Selma. Probably the oldest cemetery or "grave-yard" in the township is one which is located about half a mile west of the site of Mount Tabor Methodist Episcopal church. The deed to this land has been lost or mislaid, and we are unable to give the doner's name. However, as the land was entered by Jacob Payton in 1832, it is fair to presume that he donated the land as was usual in such cases. About the year 1839 a young son of John W. Baughn died and was buried on the home farm in section 36, this being the northeast section of the township. About one year later, 1840, Mr. Baughn donated this piece of land for a public burial place for which purpose it has been used ever since, and Mount Pleasant Methodist Episcopal church was afterwards erected near this cemetery.---Much progress had been made in other directions before even a partial system of education had been adopted in Liberty township. As late as the year 1831 the township was without schools, which was nine years after the first land entry was made, and in that year William J. Moore was sent by his father, John Moore, to Wayne county, Indiana, where his uncle lived, the object of his visit being to attend one of the schools of that county, but upon his arrival he found the school closed from some cause, and on foot he was compelled to trudge home again, wiser by experience, but not more so by education, or as the settlers use to say "Book larnen." How much this circumstance had to do with the first school in Liberty township we can not say, but certain it is that John More founded the first school room after the return of his son from Wayne county. A short time previous to this Mr. Moore had purchased an 80 acre tract of land adjoining his home place of William Downing, on which there was an empty cabin. This was converted into a school house, and a subscription was raised by the settlers who had children to attend school, and Samuel Collier (father of Mrs. A. F. Patterson, of Muncie), was employed to teach the first school in Liberty township, which was a two-month term.---In the winter of 1832 and 1833 a cabin on the land of Asahael Thornburg was converted into a school house and Anderson R. East taught the school during that and the succeeding winter. In 1839 Amos Meeks taught a school in a cabin in the northeast part of the township.---These early schools were supported entirely by subscription, and the first steps toward the establishment of free schools were taken by appropriating the congressional fund of the township for the maintenance of free schools. For a number of years the old buildings were made to do duty under the new regime, until the accumulated funds warranted them in erecting new and better school buildings. These appeared here and there, one by one, until Liberty stands well up in the list for good schools, all of which has had a marked effect for good on the morals of the community.---Perhaps the first election ever held in Delaware county was the presidential election of 1824, when the candidates were Adams and Jackson. At this time, Delaware was a part of Randolph county and this election was held at the cabin of William Williams in Liberty township. The total number of votes cast was about twenty.---Liberty was first settled (like most of the country) by squatters and hunters, who never became land owners, but kept moving on west as the country became settled up and game consequently more scarce. These forerunners of civilization deserve and are accorded much praise by a greatful posterity, yet it is a fact much to be regretted that while our early pioneers were carving enduring monuments to their memories from the dense forests, they thought so little of what they were doing, as to leave no records from which a history of their settlement and movements could be made, therefore, the only source of information open to us is the store-house of memory. (Excerpts from pages 21-23)

Lewis, John - see Mt. Pleasant
Littler, Thomas - see William Heal
Long, Joel W. - see Eaton