Paul Minor

Delving Into Yester~Year

Local historian and writer Paul Miner takes items from The Republican’s Yester-Year column to develop an interesting, informative and often humorous article.

To the Editor:

The 1874 Hendricks County “People’s Guide” published a township-by-township directory of mainly males, citing name, occupation, general location, where and when they were born, when they settled here, and political and religious affiliation.

This directory offered “a collection of very important documents and statistics connected with our moral, political and scientific history.” That includes churches, lodges, schools and “improvements.” Remembered pioneers were cited.

A Clay Township carpenter of roughly 50 years living in Amo, John Lesley was a self-proclaimed pettifogger. He bickered and quibbled over trifles. Or he engaged in chicanery. Either way, I would like to have known him. He was honest about himself. He was a Republican and religiously Independent.

J.M.G. Lesley, also of Amo and a county native of roughly 24 years, was a plasterer and contractor. The Republican was a free thinker. Most county men were farmers. Our first settlers arrived from North Carolina in 1818. The first settlements were in Liberty and Guilford Township. The county was organized in 1824 when roughly 1,000 lived here, and the commissioners divided it into four townships.

This county went from “a howling wilderness, inhabited by the wild beasts of the forest, to one of the best improved counties in the State, populated by over twenty thousand intelligent, Christian people.” I know there were unrepentant heathens. By 1874, “the wild beasts of the forests (had been) slaughtered and driven from her borders, and the serpent and reptile have been killed and destroyed.” The wolf and bear were gone. County citizens were “industrious, honest and temperate.” A licensed saloon could not be found – not for years. Folks were “liberal, intelligent and church-attending.” Seven Dugans lived northeast of Brownsburg; six were born in Ireland. All were Democrats and Roman Catholics. Martin Dugan, born in Eire in 1818, arrived here in 1853. Joseph Lamer, farming a mile south of Royalton, was “gone from home.” That’s all the

“Morality, education and temperance” went “hand in hand” in “Centre” Township. Danville was “the resort for those who wish to educate and the home for the retired Israelite.”

G.W. Arnold, farming two miles north of Danville, had arrived the year he was born in 1838, was a Democrat and religiously “slim.”

I believe he’s buried at the Arnold-Stuart Cemetery just off Ind. 39, south of White Lick Creek.

Danville’s N.B. Chamberlin was a boot, shoe and leather dealer born in Connecticut in 1846, arriving in 1872. That Republican was a Free Thinker, meaning he formed his opinions “on the basis of reason independently of authority,” and was a religious sceptic.

George Chamberlin, in the same business, surely was related. Born in Connecticut in 1813, he arrived in 1853. The Republican was a Universalist.

I don’t know where either are buried, but I learned of custody officer George Chamberlain, age 24-25, murdered by escaping Indiana Prison South inmates in 1874. He rests at Danville South Cemetery.

Erasmus D. Nichols, a Danville trader, was county-born in 1843. He enlisted twice for the Union, first with the 53rd Infantry, then the 17th Indiana. His daughter, Mayme, was the second wife of Judge George Woodward Brill.

His father, Thomas Nichols, was the county’s second sheriff beginning in 1828 when Danville had but four or five residences. He raised a company of 54 men for the 1832 Black Hawk War. A carpenter and contractor, he built numerous town houses. A justice of the peace, he married at least 150 couples.

Dressmaker Adaline Johnson of New Winchester was born in Virginia in 1830, arriving here 29 years later. A Presbyterian, she was a Democrat.

Belleville blacksmith E.H. Carter plugged his skill – “shoes a horse so as not to interfere.” Birthed in Kentucky in 1833, he settled in the county in 1867. He was Republican and Christian. I think he was a widower during the war, serving in the 9th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, his three young children remaining behind.

Stilesville teacher of vocal music William J. Wilcoxson was born in 1830 in North Carolina and arrived here two years later. He rests at Stilesville Cemetery since 1901.

Tennessee-born (1828) Joshua Norman of Clayton had been here since 1833. An Independent, the blacksmith was “free and easy” when it came to religion.

I’ll buy that.

Paul Miner Lizton ______________________________________________________________________