History of Lawrence County, Indiana

Transcribed passages are from the following book:
History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties Indiana
1914 B. F. Bowen & Co. Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana

SHAWSWICK TOWNSHIP

In the central part of the county is Shawswick township. On the south the East fork of White river flows, and on the west Salt creek.

The number of land entries made prior to and in 1820 proves how inviting the locality was to the settler coming on his way to the northward. These early land entries were as follows: James Mandell; Samuel Lindley, Ezekiel Blackwell, Hiram Kilgore, Charles Kilgore, Preston Beck, William Bristoe, Reuben and Simpson Kilgore, Marguis Knight, Joseph Glover, James Gregory, John Hays, William Thornton, William Foot, John Gardner, John Williams and William Fisk in 1816; Dixon Brown, David Johnson, Thomas Thompson, John Horton, Meicher Fehgelman, Robert Whitley, Vinson Williams, Peter Galbert, Martin Ribelin, William Dougherty, John Hawkins, Thomas M Ross and McDonald. James Maxwell, Samuel Dougherty, Robert Dougherty, Alexander Butler, George Silvers, Thomas Elrod, Roger McKnight, Jacob Castleman and Thomas Allen in 1817; Pleasant Padgett, Lewis Woody, James Blair, Andrew Owen, James Riggins, Mark Tally, William Denson, Stephen Shipman, Absalom Hart, Abraham Mitchell, John Spears, David Wilson, Timothy Ward, Arta Garrison, Ebenezer McDonald. Fetler and Hughes, Peter Harmonson, James Erwin and Henry McGree in 1818; T. McAfee, Michael Johnson, R. Bowles. James Blair, James Denson, Joseph James, James Owens in 1819; Jacob Hikes, Cuthbert and Thomas Bullitt, Dixon Brown, Roger McKnight, Jacob Geiger, Bartholomew Thatcher, Fetler and Hughes, Philip Starr, J. Thompson, James Allen, Jonathan Henderson, Isaac Jamison, Samuel Gwathney, Thomas Mafflth, James Pace, Thomas Hill and Jacob Clark, in 1820.

Shawswick was one of the original five townships, and the name came in the following manner: A judge in the early history of the state bore the name of Wick, and he had many admirers in this county who insisted that the township should be named after him. One of the county commissioners at the same time, by the name of Beazley, had a comrade by the name of Shaw, who was killed in the battle of Tippecanoe. Beazley advocated the name of Shaw and had many supporters in his desire. The two parties finally compromised on the name Shawswick.

OOLITIC

Three miles and half northeast of Bedford in Shawswick township, is situated the town of Oolitic... Under the statutes of Indiana, the village of Oolitic was incorporated as a town in 1900.