- Madison Township
- Topography EARLY SETTLEMENT
The southern division of
Madison township was opened up for settlement about 1830, being at that
time included in Hamilton county, while the northern sections formed a
part of the Indian reserve and were not placed on the market for a
number of years afterward. This necessarily meant that the
southern lands were settled first, and indeed in the year 1836 there
were not many people living there: James Shaw, Henry Eytchison,
Pleasant Allman, and Henry Hobbs. Shaw came from Rush
county, and located two miles south of the village of New Lancaster.
Eytchison came from North Carolina, and took a claim in section
17. He later moved to Madison county.
Allman located in the southeast corner of the township, and was
the first there. He came from Marion county. Hobbs
was a Virginian, and a man of first quality. He was once a
candidate for probate judge. Absalom Hobbs, brother, came a
year later and entered a tract of land in section 27. He ran for
the office of sheriff in 1846, but was so unfortunate as to belong to
the weaker party.
In the forepart of 1837 Joseph Henderson, from
Ohio, secured land in the southeastern part. When he left Ohio he
joined the Mormon sect under the prophet, Joseph Smith; he was
one of the Latter-Day Saints at the time of their expulsion from
Illinois, and was one of the small settlement in Jackson county,
Missouri. He gave up the Mormon heresy before leaving Missouri.
He entered land in Madison township in 1838, and lived there until his
death in 1875.
In 1837 a Virginian by the name of Henry Hildebrand
came to the township and bought land in the southern part. He
afterward practiced medicine. About the same time settlements were
made by Reuben Farlow, near the eastern boundary, and William
Orr, a nephew, and by Absalom and Henry Hobbs in the
southwest corner. Philip Letzinger came, in 1838, and was
joined the same year by Mitchell and William Goings and
Joseph A. Wright. The Goings located near the Hamilton
county line. Wright came from North Carolina, where he left
his family while he investigated the land of Tipton county. He
selected a claim on section 22, on which he built a small cabin.
He burned the first brick in the township and erected the first brick
house in the county on his farm in 1848. Other of the settlers who
came early were: Henry Harbit, a Kentuckian, who located a
short distance south of New Lancaster; Reuben Harvey, in
eastern part, and William Carr.
In 1838 two brothers, Newton and
Carter Jackson, came in with their families and settled near New
Lancaster, the former in section 19 and the latter in section 20.
They were natives of Kentucky, but left that state in an early day and
settled in Wayne county near the city of Richmond. At the
organization of Tipton county in 1844, Newton Jackson took an
active part and was elected as the first clerk. Carter Jackson
was elected as the first representative to the state Legislature in
1845.
The following is a list of settlers who entered land
from the government: Ansell Ballard, John Rader, John Gross,
Samuel Potoff, Ebenezer Doublass, Eli Wright, Enoch Warman, Sanford
Daniel, Alfred Daniel, Silas Mills, Lemuel Darrow, Obadiah Kinney, Henry
Oldacre, Samuel Heck, Solomon Dill, Jarrett Nugen, Martin Rogers, Daniel
Miller, William Orr, Jesse McAnally, Benjamin Baird and James
Beeson. These men all received their patents prior to 1837.
The following two years' entries were made by William Sheets, N.
Stanbrough, James Tate, S. N. John, Joel Stephenson, Frederick Waltz,
Jesse Hankins, James Armstrong, George L. Smith, Robert Stutsman, Jacob
Smith, John Sharpe, Ransom Mills, H. Mills, William Birch, Thomas
Cooper, Samuel Neece, Nathan Baird.
James Merritt, from Ohio, came in 1839, and took
land in the south sections. In 1846, at the time of his wife's
death, he moved to Hamilton county. In 1839, also, Edward
Sharpe settled in the southwest part of the township, where he
remained until 1844, when, becoming weary of the country, he removed to
Marion county, his former home. The Darrow family, Lemuel
Zadock, John and Simeon, came in 1839 and made a home on Duck
creek, near the eastern boundary. They were natives of
Massachusetts. These brothers had an unfortunate existence here.
Lemuel died in 1843; John left the country to escape
litigation, and Zadock committed suicide in 1858.
- First Improvements
EARLY ELECTIONS
The first election within the
present bounds of Tipton county occurred in the year 1841, at the
residence of Joseph A. Wright in the western part of Madison
township. This was during the time that the township was a part of
Hamilton county, and the election took place for county purposes only,
no officers being chosen. Carter Jackson was appointed
inspector, and eighteen votes were cast. The first election after
the county organization was held at John B. Cole's residence in
1844. Newton Jackson was chosen justice of the peace.
The first board of township trustees was elected in the year 1854 and
comprised the following: Levi Colvin, Gilbert Wright and
Green Lilly. James Beeson was chosen treasurer, and Thomas
S. Starkey, clerk.
- Madison in 1914
- New Lancaster
- Curtisville
HOBBS
Hobbs was located by
Henderson Hobbs on the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, on his farm in
section 10. This occurred in 1878.
At the present, in 1914, the village of Hobbs was about
two hundred people living there. The village has not grown very
fast since its founding due to the fact that other trading centers are
very close in any direction. A flouring and saw mill are the chief
industries of the place; there was a bank, newly started, and one or two
general stores. The people of Hobbs have easy access to Tipton and
Elwood by the route of the traction line. There are two doctors
and no attorneys. The two large elevators are the most noticeable
of the town structures and, with the newly established bank, attest to
the prosperity of the town and community. There are two churches
and a postoffice.
- Cicero Township
EARLY SETTLERS
From Wayne county, Indiana, in
1837, came Isaac J. Parker, and he settled one mile east of the
present site of Tipton, where he lived until his death in the year 1866.
Parker was a native of New Jersey. He encountered the usual
strenuous hardships of the pioneer and was forced to carry on his
ordinary trade at Strawtown, in Hamilton county, twelve miles distant.
Joab E. Parker, a brother, came into the county about the same
time and entered land farther south. He passed to his reward in
1859. In 1836 Thomas Corbin located in the eastern portion
of the township, with no neighbor within a distance of five miles.
Allen and James Goodpasture came in 1836, also, and remained
until their death. Land was entered in this same year by Joseph
Shank, and he moved his family thereon, died in 1882, and left a
good estate to his widow. James Edgar settled later in the
western part of the township. He died in 1882. Land was
purchased by William Bishop in 1835, but he did not make a
settlement on it until a few years later; Daniel Smith also lived
in the southern part as early as 1835 or 1836.
The Whisler brothers, John and Jacob,
settled about two and a half miles east of Tipton prior to the year of
1830. Jacob Whisler was the first treasurer of the county,
but later moved into Hamilton county. John Whisler moved,
with his family, to Kansas in 1833. Near the opening of the year
1838, if not in that year, William Deal made a settlement in this
township, and a trifle later John Emehiser emigrated here.
Emehiser was a native of Pennsylvania and of German descent.
His first inroad into Indiana was to Wayne county. In 1838, or a
year later, William Dickson came, also Anson King.
Samuel King was one of the largest owners of land here, at one time
possessing over one thousand acres in 1835. John Forkner
entered land south of Tipton in 1830. Dr. Silas Blount
moved from Ohio an located just north of the Hamilton county line in
1841. The village of West Kinderhook was afterward established
there by him. He was one of the first physicians to practice in
Tipton county. He was also one of the first associate judges.
For a period of forty years he followed diligently his practice and was
esteemed by all START ON PAGE 84
- Topography
- Organization
- Elections and Officers
- Roads
- Hunting and Amusements
- Sports
- First Industries
- Cicero in 1914
- Jackson Station
- West Kinderhook
- Parrotsville
- Independence
- City of Tipton
- Prologue
- Selection of Site
- Laying Out
- Lot Sales
- Taverns
- Early Merchants
- Early Tipton
- Cholera Epidemic
- Incorporation as a Town
- Modern Tipton
- Incorporation
- Public Utilities
- Lake Erie & Western Shops
- City Park
- Prospective Tipton
- Tipton Public Library
- Tipton Chamber of Commerce
- Tipton Factories
- City Finances
- Postoffice History |