Because this is the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Hunutersville Church, Penntown, and the Town and Parish of Oldenburg, it is appropriate first to examine the history of both the German and non-German immigration to this region of Indiana, and then to examine the European history of the three areas in northern Germany which have played an important role in the development of Laughery, Adams, and Ray Townships.

This history should be of special interest to all those of German descent in this region and to the non-German community as well. It was this immigration which has determined much of the development and culture of this area.

The Indians did not have any major settlements in southeastern Indiana at the time of white settlement. There were from time to time Indian encammpments such as the one by the Shawnee Indians during the winter of 1788 near the junction of Ripley and Laughery creeks in northern Delaware Township.

Significant Indian presence disappeared in the years after the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. The last meeting of Indians in this area reportedly occurred in 1833 near Metamora where about forty gathered for the last time before beig removed further west.

The earliest non-Indian settlement of this area was by Englishmen and people of English and Irish descent from eastern states and Kentucky. White settlement of this area came primarily through Dearborn County, although some settlers came to Napoleon by way of Madison.

Families settled near Lawrenceburg as early as 1796. In 1800 the Indiana Territory was established, and Lawrenceburg was platted in 1802. Gradually settlement extended north along Tanner's Creek and then up the ridge to Yorkville, New Alsace, Hubble's Corner and Penntown, Another route followed the road from Lawrenceburg to Napoleon.

Other settlement routes went north up the Whitewater River valley towards Brookville and east from Aurora towards Versailles. John Conner established trading posts near Cedar Grove in 1803 and at Connersville in 1808. However, those routes did not directly affect the Batesville area.

In about 1811 some of the Alley brothers from Virginia settled along Pipe Creek in Franklin County. Martin Ewbank and his son, John, settled a mile north of Guilford in the same year. John Kelso from Ireland settled 3/4 of a mile northeast of presen day Dover as early as 1813.

In 1814 Daniel and Henry Woolsey settled in Shelby Township of Ripley County becoming the county's first white settlers. In 1815 Richard and Dorcas Wortman from Kentucky settled five miles west of Sunman, and Robert and Nansy Johnson had settled in the Penntown vicinity by the same year.

David Perrine of New York City arrived in the Yorkville vicinity in 1816, the same year Indiana became a state. Also that year the Osburn family arrived in the vicinity of St. Mary's in Franklin County. In 1817 William George and his brother settled in Ray Township near present day Oldenburg.