JUNE 23, 1810

203 years ago today, David Glass obtained his land patent for the southwest quarter of Section 9, Township 2 North, Range 4 East. On June 23, 1810, Glass was one of the earliest settlers in what was then Washington Township, Harrison County, Indiana Territory to receive a deed from the US Government.  Glass’s immediate neighbors in Section 9 were Moses Hoggatt and William Gordon.  The quarter section assigned by George Brock to Peter Hubbard lay immediately to the west of Glass.  The old trail that ran  from the White River ford to Royse’s Lick cut across the southwest corner of the Glass acreage.  Section 16 lay to the south of Glass and was the school section which was being reserved by the Federal government to provide rental income to support the eventual development of public schools as contemplated by the Northwest Ordinance.  The quarter section tract to the southwest of David Glass had been registered by Jacob Mendenhall and then assigned to Zachariah Nixon on December 10, 1812. 

David Glass had left his pregnant wife, Mehtelina Mary Kime Glass, and one child behind in Guilford, NC while he registered and worked on raising money to perfect his claim in the Indiana Territory.  David Glass was descended from a German family named Gleiss that came to the American colonies in the 1730s.  As his wife was also of Germanic background, Glass did not find himself at ease living around his Quaker neighbors.  Prior to 1814, Glass sold his 160 acres to neighbor Zachariah Nixon after he brought his family to Indiana.  Nixon had to take his deed from Glass to Corydon for recording as the area that was to become Washington County was still part of Harrison County at the time.

David and Mary Glass settled in Washington Township, Clark County, Indiana to the northeast of the Clark Grant where many of his neighbors were of German heritage.  The Glasses raised 8 children in northeastern Clark County and lived there for the rest of their lives.  Mary Glass died in 1862 and David Glass died in 1865 at the age of 83.