May 20, 1815

200 years ago today in Madison Township, Washington County, Indiana Territory one of the first settlers in Washington County, THOMAS POULSON (1775-1829), finally acquired title to land he had squatted on before the rights to settle in the area had been purchased from various native American tribes by General William Henry Harrison through the Treaty of Grouseland.  The land title issued to Poulson on this date was to the southeast quarter of Section 17, T1S, R3E. This location featured Hunter Spring which flows west a short distance to Blue River.  This farm was along a sweeping bend of Blue River just downstream from the Vincennes Road.  It is today located south of Blice Point, north of Moore Hill and at the west end of Kay Bottom. The south line of this land claim was the boundary line between Washington and Harrison County.

The Stevens Centennial History of Washington County says that Thomas Poulson was the third person to settle in what was to become Washington County.  Thomas Hopper squatted on land near present day Hardinsburg in 1803 and Jesse Spurgeon arrived at Royse’s Lick in 1804.  Thomas and Susannah Dollins Poulson squatted on the land they eventually purchased in 1805.  Several soldiers, Indians, settlers and itinerants stopped at Hunters Spring and the Poulson became accommodating hosts. The Poulson cabin was noted for its hospitality and an extra bed for those travelling between Vincennes and the Falls of the Ohio on the Vincennes Road.

Thomas Poulson was born in Albemarle County, Virginia in 1775.  This was where the west edge of the coastal plain met the Appalachian Mountains.  It was the home county of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. Susannah Dollins was also a native of Virginia.  They were married in Albemarle County, Va. in 1798.  It is unknown whether Thomas Poulson came to the Indiana Territory alone or whether his family immediately relocated with him.  It was not uncommon for the husband to scout out land in the Indiana Territory and establish a cabin and small farmstead before bringing his family from Kentucky, North Carolina or Virginia to settlement on the frontier in the former Northwest Territory.  After the Poulsons settled along Blue River, they made a second land claim to the northwest quarter of Section 21, T1S, R3E located in Harrison County.  They actually paid off this second claim first and received their deed for this piece of land on May 21, 1814.  This second tract shared its northeast corner with the original homestead on Blue River. A third adjoining quarter section was purchased by the Poulsons in 1827.

Thomas Poulson wrote a death bed will on October 15, 1829.  He died three days later and was probably buried on his land.  The will was witnessed by neighbors Benjamin King and John Royse and his brother in law from Lincoln County, Kentucky, William Dollins.  The will named his twenty seven year old son, Shiloh, and his wife as the co-executors.  The preface of the will committed his “soul to God and his body to dust”.  The will gave “Sukey” Susannah Poulson a life estate to the entire estate.  The estate was then divided equally among the seven children, to-wit: Elizabeth Broadwell (plus $10); Shiloh Poulson; Nancy Poulson; John Poulson (plus $20); Rebeckah Poulson; Sarah Poulson; and Thomas Poulson. The wife was given the discretion to advance part of each child’s inheritance upon their marriage.

The estate was liquidated and the family of Thomas and Susannah Poulson moved to different locations in southwestern Indiana. Elizabeth and Henry Broadwell moved to Warrick County, Indiana. Shiloh Poulson married Selah Smith and moved to Dubois County, Indiana. Nancy Poulson married John T. Jones and moved to Dubois County, Indiana.  John Poulson became a physician, moved to Dubois County, Indiana and died in 1842. Rebecka Poulson married Dr. Austin Brown and they moved to Warrick County, Indiana. Sarah Poulson married John G. Lee and moved to Daviess County, Indiana.  Thomas Poulson moved to Dubois County, Indiana.

                         TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF THOMAS POULSON SETTLEMENT 1803

                                 GOOGLE EARTH VIEW OF HUNTER SPRING FROM WEST

                                                DR. JOHN POULSON GRAVESTONE

MAY 9, 1815

200 years ago today EDWARD LINTHICUM and ELIZABETH HEPNER were married in Madison Township, Washington County, Indiana Territory.  The nuptials were solemnized by neighbor Robert Catlin who was a Justice of the Peace. This connubiation is the first marriage presently recorded in the public records of Washington County, Indiana.  The first page of Marriage Book A is missing from the rebound volume that is now two centuries old.  This means that the first four to six marriages filed with the Clerk of the Washington Circuit Court in 1814 and 1815 are now lost to history.

Marriages in the southern uplands of the Indiana Territory were usually rather informal affairs.  There were few established church congregations and ever fewer church houses.  Therefore, most early marriages were conducted by Justices of the Peace.  If the Justice of the Peace was a considerable distance away from the court house, the record of the marriage may not have ever been filed with the County Clerk.  Public notice of marriages in the early days of the Indiana Territory were sometimes posted in three public places and that may have been their only public record.   At the time Justice of the Peace Robert Catlin took the marriage vows of Edward Linthicum and Elizabeth Hepner, there was no Court House yet completed in which to file marriage records.  The original marriage records maintained  by Clerks Isaac Blackford and Basil Prather were transferred to the Washington County Court House when it was opened for public matters in May of 1816.

After his marriage, Edward Linthicum registered a land claim for the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 19, T1S, R3E, in Blue River Township, Harrison  County, Indiana Territory. This tract was riparian land on Blue River located on the north coursing part of the large bend the river downstream from Fredericksburg and immediately south of Lambert Hill.  Its north line is coincidental to the boundary line between Harrison and Washington Counties. Edward Linthicum died sometime before March 25, 1825 as the United States General Land Office issued the deed for this land patent to “the heirs and representatives of Edward Linthicum”. 

Elizabeth Hepner was probably the daughter of George and Mary Hepner who either registered or paid off three different land patents in Washington County between the dates of August 1, 1816 through October 4, 1825.  The first Hepner homestead was in the northeast quarter of Section 15, T1S R3E.  This tract was advantageously located where the Vincennes Road was near a bend in Blue River. The value of this location was apparent when the Hepners sold it on March 21, 1817 to John Gregg for $1,000. The Hepners next acquired the rights to a land claim registered by Joseph Shaw.  This 160 acres was the southeast quarter of Section 14, T1S, R2E.  This land contained a large spring the was the outlet for the sinking creek karst system flowing southeast from the edge of the Crawford Upland to Blue River.  The Hepners sold this tract to Benjamin Radcliff on January 22, 1820. Radcliff built a mill there and ran a distillery from this spate of cave water.  The Hepners had registered a third  land claim at the Jeffersonville Land Office for the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 13, T1S, R2E, but sold it to David Radcliff who then obtained his title on October 4, 1825. This tract was immediately east of the land where the Benjamin Radcliff mill and distillery were operating.

                           COMPILATION OF EARLY WASHINGTON COUNTY MARRIAGES

                                                         COLLEEN ALICE RIDLEN

                                                            RADCLIFFE SPRINGS

                                         GOOGLE EARTH VIEW OF RADCLIFFE SPRINGS
                                                              AND BLUE RIVER

May 13, 1815

200 years ago today in Washington County, Indiana Territory, STEPHEN GLOVER (1787-1826) was granted his title to the northeast quarter of Section 8, T2N, R2E. Glover selected land for his settlement north of the North Fork of Lost River near the road laid out from Beck’s Mill to the Jesse Roberts homestead southeast of present day Orleans.  This land is located today in Orange County, Indiana on Washington County line midway between SR 60 and SR 337.

Stephen Glover was born in Essex County, New Jersey in 1787. He married Sarah Kirkham in Nelson County, Kentucky on August 1, 1808.  She was a native of Kentucky having been born near Lexington.  They crossed the Ohio River into the Indiana Territory sometime before 1812 as Glover was a resident of Harrison County, Indiana when he filed his claim for the land on Lost River which was then part of that county.

Stephen Glover was a son of Uriah Glover, Jr. (1740-1830) and Elizabeth Robinson Glover (1744-1822) who came to the Indiana Territory from Shelby County, Kentucky. Uriah Glover, Jr. was born in Long Island, New York.  He married Elizabeth Robinson and they lived in Essex County, New Jersey where they became parents of twelve children.  Uriah and Elizabeth and many of their children came to Kentucky where they lived for about twenty years.  Uriah Glover, Jr. took out six land patents in the Indiana Territory between August 13, 1812 and December 23, 1822. All of these pioneer farms were drained by Lost River upstream from its junction with Carter’s Creek.  Stephen Glover’s tract was adjacent to two of his father’s claims.  They undoubtedly worked together during their years along Lost River clearing almost 1,100 acres and raising crops and livestock to pay for their land claims. Uriah Glover, Jr. was also an experience miller as he served as mill foremen for the Bullitt Brothers at Spring Mill.  Uriah Glover, Jr. died at the age of 89 thereby outliving his son by eight years.  They are both buried in the Trimble Cemetery which was established on the neighboring land of David McKinney.

                                            MAP OF LONG ISLAND NEW YORK 1776

                                   GOOGLE EARTH VIEW OF STEPHEN GLOVER FARM

                                                 URIAH GLOVER, JR. GRAVESTONE
                                                              TRIMBLE CEMETERY

MAY 8, 1815

200 years ago today in Washington County, Indiana Territory, seven pioneers received deeds from the United States government for their perfected land claims.  These early settlers were: Solomon Bush, Robert Hollowell, Isaac Lofton, Jr., Frederick Phillips, James Redus, Christopher Trinkle and Peter Zink. Four of these seven were of Germanic heritage.

SOLOMON BUSH (1788-1874) was granted title to the  southeast quarter of Section 1, T1S, R4E, on this date. This pioneer farmstead was located immediately east of the land of Philip Shults and bordered the farm of Frederick Phillips on the south.  The land is found today just north of Martinsburg, Indiana on the east side of SR 335 and south of Lovell Road.  Solomon Bush was the son of John Jacob Bush and Mary Phillips Bush who both of Germanic stock.  John Jacob Bush’s father was born in Baden-Wurttemberg and settled in Pendleton County, Virginia and then in Shelby County, Ky.  Two generations of the Bush family came to the Indiana Territory in about 1811.  John Jacob Bush took at a land patent on Dutch Creek on June 22, 1813 in the southwest quarter of Section 2, T1S, R4E.  Solomon Bush married Nancy Elizabeth Beck in 1814 after staking his claim. His father died in 1820 and was buried near his Dutch Creek farm.  Solomon Bush then relocated to a homestead on a ridge between the two branches of Rush Creek where he lived until his death in 1874. Bush operated on of the many distilleries in his Rush Creek neighborhood.  The Stevens Centennial History states that between 1820 and 1835 half of the land in Jefferson Township, Washington County, Indiana was paid for by the sale of whiskey.

ROBERT HOLLOWELL (1772-1865) received title from the United States General Land Office to the southeast quarter of Section 33, T1N, R2E.  This acreage was located on the Vincennes Road just northwest of the present town limits of Hardinsburg.   This grant of land was the fourth purchased by Hollowell from the US government in this part of the Indiana Territory. As mentioned in my post of June 26, 2014, Hollowell acquired eighteen land patents in Washington, Orange  and Lawrence County, Indiana between 1813 and 1838. He and his wife Elizabeth Cox Hollowell were members of the Lick Creek Friends Meeting. They were in the vanguard of the Quaker emigration from North Carolina when they came to Indiana in 1809.

ISAAC  LOFTON, Jr.  (1784-1859) was issued a deed by the US government for the southwest quarter of Section 10, T1S, R3E. Lofton was attracted to this location as it contained both river bottoms and a karst ridge between the river valleys of Royse’s Fork and the Mutton Fork of Blue River. This ground is northeast of Fredericksburg where the Fredericksburg Road makes a right angle turn.  Isaac Lofton Sr. and Isaac Lofton Jr. both came to the Indiana Territory from Mercer County, Kentucky.  Isaac Sr. was born in Frederick County, Virginian in 1745.  Isaac Jr. was born in Cabarrus County, North Carolina in 1784.  One of Isaac Lofton’s neighbors was Roland Voyles who also was one of the early settlers of Washington County, Indiana Territory. The Loftons crossed the Transappalachian frontier and entered land in Mercer County, Kentucky in about 1806.  The Loftons made their land claim near to the Blue River crossing of the Vincennes Road  after selling their Mercer County, Kentucky farm in February 1810.  Isaac Lofton Sr. died on December 10, 1813.  Isaac and Judah Rorie Lofton were the head of a very industrious family as they purchased twelve land patents from the Federal government between 1815 and 1848 in Washington, Harrison and Spencer Counties.

FREDRICK PHILLIPS (1769-1836) obtained his land patent on this date for the northeast quarter of Section 1, T1S, R4E. The Phillips tract was one of the oversized quarter sections located on the south boundary of the division line between T1N and T1S.  Phillips operated a horse mill for the grinding of grain for several year on his farm. The neighbors of Frederick and Mary Scott Phillips were his nephew Solomon Bush, Philip Shults, Ephraim Goss, Philip Hynote and Christian Bixler. The father of  Frederick Phillips was a native of Alsace in southwestern Germany. The Phillips family first came to Pennsylvania and then followed the Great Wagon Road south to Frederick County, Virgina.  Frederick Phillips married Mary Scott in Virginia in 1790.  They came through the Cumberland Gap and had settled on the Pennyroyal Plateau in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky by 1800. While living there, the Phillips had an indentured servant named William Cutsinger.  Their contract of indenture required them to teach him “the farming business, reading, writing and common arithmetic including the Rule of Three”.  The Philipps sold their farm in the Pennyroyal for $500 on July 15, 1811.  They then relocated to their Indiana homestead on the headwaters of Dutch Creek. Presumably, Mr. Cutsinger could figure out by this time how much 20 bushels of corn would cost if 15 bushels of corn cost $1.

JAMES REDUS (1744-1821) acquired his title on this date to the northwest quarter of Section 6, T1N, R3E.  His choice for settlement was found where the trail from Beck’s Mill to Vincennes passed through a valley on the west edge of the Barrens into the hills outlying the Crawford Upland.  Redus was a native of Cecil County Maryland which is located in the very northeast corner of that state at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. He married Sarah Chalfant in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1786.  James and Sarah Redus were buried in the Livonia Cemetery upon their passing.  Archibald Boston had originally made a claim to the land settled by James Redus.  Boston assigned his claim to Redus so that he could serve in the Kentucky Militia during the war of 1812.  After he mustered out of the militia, Boston took out a land patent in Lawrence County, Indiana.  He later moved on to Shelby County, Illinois.

CHRISTOPHER TRINKLE (1752-1829) was issued his deed from the General Land Office on this date to the southwest quarter of Section 15, T1N, R2E.  The Trinkle homestead is now located south of Livonia on the south side of McCullough Road.  This land was part of the Dr. McCullough farm for many years  Christopher Tinkle was a son of Johann Stephen Traenkle who came to the American Colonies from Baden-Wurttemberg in 1738. Christopher Trinkle was born near Winchester, Virginia and married Elizabeth Wysor in 1776. He served in the Revolutionary War for the Montgomery County Militia.  Their children were baptized in the Lutheran tradition of the family. Elizabeth died in 1812 after most of their children had grown. Christopher brought his younger children with him to the Indiana Territory soon thereafter and made his claim in the karst plain north of the Vincennes Road. He was buried in the Sinking Spring Cemetery near his farm.

      

PETER ZINK (1755-1836) became the owner of the southeast quarter of Section 12, T2N, R3E, 200 years ago today.  Zink selected his claim on a tributary of Highland Creek because it had a prolific spring.  His first neighbors were Samuel Blankenbaker and Godlove Kemp.  The burgeoning county seat of Salem was about 2 miles to the east.  Zink was born in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1755.  His parents moved to Washington County, Virginia where Peter lived until he was lured to the West to settle in the Indiana Territory. Peter Zink was of German ancestry as his father was Gottlieb Zink.  At least three of his siblings came to the newly established Washington County, Indiana Territory.  Jacob Zink lived near Harristown.  Daniel Zink took out a land patent near the west bank of Royse’s Fork of Blue River below its junction with Highland Creek.  George Brock who was the subject of my post of  April 23, 2014 was his brother in law.

                                              CHRISTOPHER TRINKLE GRAVESTONE

                                                 JAMES REDUS GRAVESTONE

                                 LOCATION OF BADEN-WURTTEMBERG IN GERMANY

MAY 2, 1815

200 years ago today in Washington County, Indiana Territory, Philip Shultz/s obtained a land patent to the southwest quarter of Section 1, in T1S, R4E.  This 160 acres was located between the upper tributaries of Dutch Creek where the old trail from the Falls of the Ohio to Royse’s Lick coursed near the crest of the Knobstone Escarpment.  The Shults homestead is found today on the west side of SR 335 north of Martinsburg and north and east of Dutch Creek Road. At the time Shults filed his land claim, he was named as a resident of Harrison County, Indiana Territory.  This means that he commenced settlement on his land before January of 1814 when Washington County was organized.

Philip Shults obtained a second land patent on July 14, 1820 for the northeast quarter of Section 35, T1N, R4E.  This tract was also on the old trail from the Falls of the Ohio to Royse’s Lick on some of the highest elevation that drains southwest to a creek that empties into the Mutton Fork of Blue River. This part of Shults’ land is located today north of Trainer Lane and west of the Martinsburg Road/SR 335 intersection.  Shults’ wife was named Elizabeth.  With only four children, they had a small family untypical of pioneer families on the Indiana frontier.

Philip and Elizabeth Shults were part of the community of Germanic heritage that settled along Dutch Creek.  The  Bush, Karnes, Wyman, Lukenbill, Busey and Fogelman families lived between the Shults and the confluence of Bear Creek and Blue River.  As there was no German nation in the early 1800s, their native language was called Deutsch [as in Deutschland].  Dutch Creek takes its name from these “Deutsch” families.

Philip Shults died before November 1830 leaving his wife Elizabeth and four sons (Jacob, Andrew, George and John) surviving.  His burial location is not recorded although it may be on the farm where he lived.  Neighbor John Pew served as the administrator of  the Philip Shults estate until he died in 1834.  Valentine Baker finished out the administration of the Shults estate as administrator de bonis nom. One of his sons, Andrew, bought out  another  son,  Jacob,  on September 29, 1832.   The widow Elizabeth and their minor child John moved north with Jacob to Tippecanoe County, Indiana  soon after Philip died.  Elizabeth Shults died in Porter County Indiana on September 8, 1847.  Andrew Shults eventually sold parts of  the family homestead to Edmund Turner, Wilson Grimes and Mr. Graybill.

                                    GOOGLE EARTH VIEW OF PHILIP SHULTS HOMESTEAD                                                                         

                                                    RHINELAND PALATINE FLAG

                                                ELIZABETH SHULTS GRAVESTONE