Sugar Creek Township

Sugar Creek Township - including Thorntown

Sugar Creek Township is located in the northwest part of the county. It is bounded on the north by Clinton county; on the west by Montgomery county, on the south by Jefferson township, and on the east by Washington township. It contains thirty-three square miles, sections 1 to 12 inclusive, in township 19 north, range 2 west and half sections 13 to 18 inclusive and sections 19 to 36 inclusive in township 20 north, range 2 west. This is as good land as ever a crow flew over and was well timbered originally. Chief among the trees of the forest was queen Acer, the maple, from which came the name Sugar Creek. It is thoroughly drained by Sugar creek and its tributaries, Wolf and Prairie creeks, and several smaller streams, both from the north and the south. The land is rich and undulating with Sugar creek flowing across the center from east to west, passing into Montgomery county near the southwest corner of section 30. Along the slopes of the streams were numerous springs, chief among which was the Big Spring, just east of Thorntown, which the Indians prized so highly, that it was made the center of their reservation.

A volume could be written on this historic center of the Indian and his home, until crowded out by the white man, but we will not enlarge here. We will give here a few brief statements of the early settlements and first events. The Indian reserve here was one of the most important west of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in the march of the Redman towards the west, from the aggression of the white man, and it will be touched upon in connection with the Indian in other chapters.

Sugar Creek township was organized in 1831. The first election was held April 1832, in the house of William KENWORTHY. Benjamin SWEENEY and James VAN EATON were elected justices of the peace and Green FOSTER and David LANDRUM, constables. Sugar Creek township was all included in the Indian Reserve which was not closed until 1828, and the Indians lingered with the early whites until 1833 and 1834. In 1829 James VAN EATON and Cornelius WESTFALL entered land in section 35 where Thorntown is located. The same year William KENWORTHY entered in 36 just east of Thorntown. Charles MOFFITT and Joseph RATCLIFF, section 34; Levi FOUTS, section 33; John SKEEN, section 25 and Jeremiah COX, section 30.

The first settler in this township was George HARNESS with a regular gospel family of twelve children. The date is given as 1830. He settled on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 3, township 20 north, range 2 west. It must have been as early as 1828. His first abode was in an Indian hut near the famous Big Spring. He cleared about twenty acres around his home and when the land sale came in 1829, he bought what he thought was his home; but being illiterate he bought the land north of his home and William KENWORTHY bought where HARNESS lived. Afterwards when Mr. KENWORTHY told him that he owned the land upon which he lived, there was a difficulty between them which was settled by Mr. KENWORTHY paying Mr. HARNESS one hundred and ten dollars. Among other troubles that came to Mr. HARNESS was the death of his daughter, Jemima, who fell from a fence and so injured herself, that she died October, 1829, and was buried in the northwest quarter of section 31, township 20 north, range 1 west. There it remains to this day, a lonely grave on the south banks of the run and unmarked. For a long time it was enclosed but even that has passed away. Mr. HARNESS soon afterwards moved to Carrell county, on the Old Michigan road, and later to Deer Creek township, Cass county, and died there January, 1876, at the advanced age of one hundred and eight years.

Soon after the election of 1832, a number of families flocked into this garden of the young county, Joshua BURNHAM, James SCOTT, Joshua and James VAN EATON, John SKEEN, William and Isaac GIPSON. Later there came Samuel BRENTON, Hugh and Jeremiah MOFFITT, John MILLER, Adrian BALL, Isaac CORBET, Benjamin LEWIS, John FERGUSON, Abraham UTTER, Robert COOK, Robert MORRISON, Thomas and Eli GOLDSBERRY, Adam BOYD, Asa FALL, Elisha RILEY and Oliver CRAVEN followed by others that laid the foundation of the township. The first saw mill was built by John G. PIERCE on Prairie creek. The first grist mill on Sugar creek was built by Silas KENWORTHY. Bonham KESTER built the first carding mill 1837. The first steam flouring mill was built by David BINFORD and Henry WETHERALD. The first white child was born at the home of Green FOSTER, 1831. The second death was Mary A. WESTFALL, who was the first person buried in the old cemetery. The first marriage, John PAULEY to Miss Emily SWEENEY, occurred July, 1832. The first religous meeting was held at the home of Cornelius WESTFALL by Claybourne YOUNG. The first church organized was the Methodist Episcopal, 1832, Rev. Stephen BALL, pastor. The Presbyterians organized in 1833, Reverend CLAYBURN as minister. In 1835, the Friends built a log house on the site of the present church at Sugar Plain. The Christian church came in 1842 and the Missionary Baptist later. First tan yard, Zachariah GIPSON; first merchant, A. H. BALDBRIDGE; first hotel, Isaac MORGAN; first tailor, Robert HAMILL; first carpenter, John ALEXANDER; first blacksmith, Moses MACLURE; first shoemaker, Thomas YOUNG; first hatter, Samuel DAILY; first wagon maker, George McLAUGHLIN; first potter, Oliver CRAVEN; first saddler, Mark A. MICHAM; first doctor, Doctor FARMER; first attorney, Rufus A. LOCKWOOD; first post office at the house of William KENWORTHY. Robert HAMILL was the postmaster in Thorntown. The first school teacher was Jefferson HILLIS. Oliver CRAVEN served as justice of the peace for forty years.

These are among the first foundation stones, the very mud sills of Sugar Creek township.

Education

Since the days of Jefferson HILLIS, who taught the first school, there has been a commendable spirit for advancement in education in this township. School houses were erected at convenient places over the territory as soon as settlements were made. First the round log cabin that has so often been described and so well impressed upon the memory of the people. This was followed by the hewed log cabin which was a better and more substantial structure. Next came the frame and last of all the modern brick. Schools were multiplied until there were ten distributed over the township. Under the concentration system now in vogue there are seven active schools which enrolled during the school years 1913 and 1914 one hundred and seventy-three pupils and graduated during the year seven pupils. The enumeration of school children the spring of 1914 was two hundred and thirty-nine, not quite one school child for each eighty acre farm in the township. There has been a decline of the number of children for the last two decades. In addition to the rural schools there was the Thorntown Academy, which attained to a wide reputation in its day and titled Thorntown as the Athens of Boone County. It was finally changed into a public school and is so continued to this day, and has in its system a commissioned high school which graduated this year a class of twenty-three.

Churches

The first church established in Sugar Creek township outside of Thorntown was the Friends' church at Sugar Plains. This society was organized December, 1833, and met at the home of Hugh MOFFITT. They continued to meet at this place twice a week until 1835, when a small log house was built near the site of the present Sugar Plains church, which served the double purpose of school and meeting house, until the growth of the members increased. The log house was too small to hold the people and a frame building was erected. The monthly meeting was established in 1840, embracing a territory of a radius of six or eight miles. The people came on horseback regularly and the interest grew. The third house, a spacious frame, sixty-four feet square with an eighteen foot ceiling was erected into which throngs of people weekly gathered. This house served the society for about forty years, when it was replaced by a more modern and smaller building which still serves the people for worship. There was also a Friends' church established at Walnut Grove in the southwest part of the township, which served for a long period of years and finally discontinued. The Methodists organized and established a church three and one-half miles northwest of Thorntown known as Sharon. This society flourished for several years in the Colfax circuit and many spirited meetings were held and precious souls saved. It finally met the fate of rural churches, discontinued services and finally died. The neighborhood is still in mourning over the death of the church. This malady has overtaken all the rural churches in this township until but one remains, Sugar Plains.

Roads

No township in the county is blessed with better roads than Sugar Creek. It has good drainage and abundance of road materials. All the leading roads are graded and graveled, the streams great and small are bribed. The first gravel road was made between Thorntown and Darlington and was a toll road for many years, afterwards turned into a township road. All other roads have been built by taxation. The excellent condition of the roads, the high cultivation of the farms and the beautiful and well arranged homes are making rural life pleasant and desirable and is doing much toward solving the question of keeping the young people on the farm.

Thorntown

The territory now comprising Thorntown and vicinity was known as the "Thorntown Indian Reservation" until the year 1828, when it was purchased from the Indians by the government. It was two or three years before the Indians were finally removed, when a man by the name of Cornelius WESTFALL purchased the ground on which the city is now situated. It was laid out in lots in 1831.

The growth of the town at first was very slow and the difficulties of the early settlers were great; log huts were at first a luxury, and the town was surrounded with swamps and mosquitoes and forests, and the people were annoyed with the old shaking ague and malarial fever, while the country was infested with wolves, bear, deer, wild cat and numerous smaller species of wild beasts, with no roads save paths through the swampy wilderness, with no bridges across the streams, with few possible means of ingress and egress, with LaFayette and Connersville as the nearest towns, with few domestic animals and almost no markets for the products of the farm, one can gain some idea of the trials and vicissitudes of the early settlers, the men and women who subdued the forests and laid the foundation for the present prosperous and happy homes.

Among the first arrivals and earliest settlers were Cornelius WESTFALL, Levi WESTFALL, Oliver CRAVEN, Joshua and James VAN EATON, John S. PEARCE (who erected the first grist mill in that part of the county), L. McCONNELL, Robert HAMILL, Zachariah GAPEN and Isaac MORGAN. Mr. HAMILL was the first postmaster and Mr. MORGAN opened the first hotel or tavern, a humble log structure, in which the fare was of a primitive character, where cornpones and venison were the staple diet. Robert HAMILL started the first store, and to him is due the honor of inaugurating mercantile enterprises in the town. Soon after another store was opened by Mr. McCONNELL; here was the first competition in trade in Thorntown, and from these two insignificant little establishments have sprung the quite one hundred business houses of today, while beautiful homes, costly church edifices and substantial school houses abound. The streets are wide and attractive and no stranger ever leaves Thorntown without admitting that it has made an excellent impression upon him.

The public school facilities are unsurpassed; the system in force is equal, if not superior, to most towns. The two large, elegant school buildings are modern, comfortable and convenient, the sanitary arrangements are perfect and a most efficient corps of teachers is in charge.

The city is well represented in the fraternal affairs, there being lodges of the following orders: Masonic, Odd Fellowship, in three branches; Knights of Pythias, Red Men, Grand Army of the Republic, Modern Woodmen, the Benevolent and Protective Elks and Daughters of Rebekah.

Submitted by: Amy Davis

Source Citation:  Boone County Township Histories [database online] Boone County INGenWeb. 2006. <http://www.rootsweb.com/~inboone> Original data: Hon. Leander M. Crist. "The History of Boone County, Indiana," Indianapolis : A. W. Bowen, 1914.