is still a resident. Jacob Custar settled this year on the Vermillion about a mile and a half above Newport. Philemon Thomas came this year and remained a resident until his death in 1860. His wife, nee Catharine Custar, came in 1828, and is still living. (See sketch of Jacob Thomas.) Nathan Thomas was five years old when in 1827 he was brought to this county.
1823. -- Carter and Catharine Hollingsworth, from North Carolina. Mrs. Hollingsworth died in 1880, aged eighty-eight years. Eber Hollingsworth, born in Union County, Indiana, in 1822, was brought to this county the next year. He is a well known farmer and stock-trader two miles west of Newport. Henry Hollingsworth, born in this State in 1830, recently died in Newport.
1824. -- Anna, widow of William Henderson, became a resident of this county in 1824.
1826. - Adam Zener, born in Kentucky in 1803, came to Clark County, this State in 1812, and in 1826 to this county, where he remained until his death, March 14, 1877, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Either this year or next came Philip W. Osmon, who was born in Kentucky in 1803. His son, Archibald W., born in 1829, is a farmer ten miles southwest of Newport, and Jabez B., born in 1836, resides at Newport. (See sketch.) Jeremiah and Mary (Taylor) Highfill,, from Maryland; he died about 1867, aged eighty-five years, and she in 1852, at the age of about sixty years. See sketch of their son John, who was born here in 1828.
1827. -- Richard Potts, who was sheriff two terms, and died in 1875. His widow died in 1883, at the old homestead two and a half miles south of Newport. Of their two children, Thomas died a number of years ago, and Charles P. survives.
1828. -- Robert Wallace, a native of Virginia, became a resident of Vermillion Township this year, and died at Newport, May 27, 1881, at the age of ninety-one years. He was a man of fine physical appearance, and was never sick to exceed a week during his life. William Wallace, who was born in Ohio in 1817, and was ten or eleven years of age when brought to this county, died several years ago. Joshua Nixon, born in Ohio in 1813, came to Newport this year, and resided here until his death, May 23, 1875, a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. James Asbury, born in Virginia in 1815, is still residing on section 21. (See sketch.) Aaron Jones, from New Jersey, and William Jones, from Union County, Indiana, both came this year; the former is dead (see sketch), and the latter is still living in this township. Samuel Jones, born in Ohio, came in 1830, and died about 1881. George Brindley, born in Kentucky in 1800, died in 1878; and his wife Sarah, born in 1806, died in 1867. (See sketch of John Brindley, a son.) Benjamin Shepherd, born in Kentucky in 1808, and David Brown, born in Indiana in 1823, are still living in this township.
1829. -- Robert Stokes settled in this township in 1829, and is still an active man, residing in Newport. His wife, whose maiden name was Rebecca Wallace, was born June 8, 1809, in Virginia, and died November 25, 1884. They were married January 31, 1833. Of their five children, none are living except Finley. Samuel Davis, born in Ohio in 1811, is also still living in Newport. Elizabeth Frazer, widow of William, who died in 1873, aged fifty-seven, was born in this State in 1822, and is still living.
1830. -- Jacob Sears came from North Carolina, and died in 1859, aged eighty-five. His wife, nee Mary Hofstetter, died in 1856, aged eighty. (See sketch of Daniel Sears.) E.
Jackson, Sr., born in Ohio in 1807, lives in Dana. Thomas J. Brown, born in Kentucky in 1801, died in this township. Ross Clark, born in Ohio in 1797, died in this township in the fall of 1878; the farm is still occupied by his son, G. W. Jacob and Mary (Harlin) Groves, from East Tennessee; he was born in 1794 and died in 1843; she died in 1873. (See sketch of William C. Groves who was born in Tennessee in 1817, and has been a resident here since 1830.) William L. Tincher, born in Kentucky in 1814, was living in Montezuma a short time ago. William W. Doss, born in Kentucky in 1817, is living in Montezuma; his son Winchester still resides in this township. Robert S. Norris from South Carolina, died in 1877, seventy-three years old. See sketch of his son John, who was born here in 1834. Other life-long residents of this township, who came this year when children, are Richard and John W. Clearwater, John L. White, James H. Hutson, George Weller, etc.
1831. -- William Nichols, born in Virginia in 1804, died October 11, 1876. Isaac and Henry Nichols, boys when brought here in early day, lived here many years and are both now deceased. Isaac and Mary Carmack, from Tennessee, settled in the Lebanon neighborhood, he died in 1863. Alfred, a son, born in Tennessee January 8, 1814, died May 18, 1817; and Andrew, another son, lives in Dana. Henry Wiltermood, born in this State in 1821. Charles Herbert, from Kentucky; his son, William J., born in 1819, is still living here, on section 27. (See sketch.) John Henderson, from Ohio, still living, on section 7. (See sketch.) Archibald B. and Melissa Edmonston; the latter died, a widow, at the age of seventy-three, in 1865. Samuel Deheaben lives near Newport. Charles S. Little is deceased.
1832. -- H. F. Jackson, born in Ohio in 1798, died in Missouri. John Jackson and wife Lydia, from Ohio; the latter died December 21, 1880, at the age of seventy-four years. Joseph Jackson, from England, deceased. Ezara Clark, born in Ohio in 1811, lives in Highland. John G. Gibbon, born in Ohio, 1819, remained here till his decease. Julius Bogart, born in Tennessee in 1811, still living here. William B. Hall, who died here in 1863, aged forty-two; his wife died in 1872. (See sketch of Samuel J. Hall.) James A. Elder, born in Brown County, Ohio; deceased. James Remley, born in Ohio in 1823, who finally committed suicide.
1833. -- Eli Newlin came from North Carolina to Montezuma, Indiana, in 1828, and to this county in 1833, where he died in 1872, aged seventy years. His wife, nee Mary Edwards, died in 1886, at the age of eighty years. (See sketch of Alfred R. Newlin.) Alexander Dunlap, born in Maryland in 1813, is still living in this township.
1834. -- John C. Johnson, born May 16, 1807, in Belmont County, Ohio, married February 24, 1833, Miss Elizabeth Shaver, a lady of superior education, and the next year located in this county, arriving at the mouth of the Little Vermillion, April 8. Here he entered a small tract of land, built a cabin and began life on what is known as the "first bottom." In 1854 he built a new house, which he occupied until 1880, when he moved to Newport, where he died February 22, 1883, after having brought up an exemplary family of children. In 1834 came also Benjamin Davis, who died in 1854, at the age of sixty-four years. His wife, whose maiden name was Rusha Sears, died in 1869, at the age of sixty-two years.
1835. -- John S. Bush, born in this State in 1828, still living here, blind. William Huff,
born in Kentucky in 1812, and James Duzan, born in the same State six years later, both now residing in Newport.
1836. -- David Aldridge, born in North Carolina in 1790, and died September 11, 1877, being at the time about the oldest citizen in the county. He was a soldier in the war of 1812.
1837. -- Isaac Tropts, long a resident of this township, was nine years old when he came to the county in 1837.
1838. -- Hiram Hastey, born in Indiana in 1818, was a harness-maker at Newport, where he died. J. F. Weller, merchant at Newport, now at Petersburg, Indiana, was born in Kentucky in 1818.
1839. -- . W. Jackson, born in Ohio in 1816, stil living here.
1840. -- Hugh Dallas, born in Ohio in 1813, still living. (See sketch.)
Mr. Dillow came some time prior to 1840, from Virginia. Abel Sexton, still one of the most prominent citizens of Newport, was born in New York in 1820, and settled in this county in 1843. (See sketch.) Other prominent citizens of Vermillion Township, who either settled here or were born here in pioneer times, are Alvah Arrasmith, living; Thomas G. Arrasmith, wagon-maker at Newport, now in Terre Haute; Samuel and G. W. Clark, living; David Fry, living; James Kaufman, who now lives in Dana; Leonard Sanders, deceased; his sons, Samuel, Daniel and William are living; John Rice, who died in 1880 at the age of seventy years; his son, William Z., is sketched in the biographical department of this work; Daniel E. Jones, who became a wealthy citizen of Chicago and died there; Major John Gardner, Henry Betson, etc.
Colonel William Craig was born in Newport in 1831, graduated at West Point in 1853, having for his class-mates Generals McPherson, Philip Sheridan and Schofield; crossed the western plains in 1854 as Lieutenant and Aid-de-Camp on General Garland's staff; served in the regular army ten years, being one of the best Indian fighters, and greatly admired by Kit Carson and others; and finally died in the Southwest, in 1886.
The above are the initials of one of the most prominent citizens of Vermillion County; namely, Oliver P. Davis, and have also become the name of the 1,300 acre farm which he owns three to four miles below Newport, and of the railroad station at that point, when it is generally spelled Opedee.
Hon. O. P. Davis was born in New Hampshire in 1814; learned the art of papermaking; came to Indiana in 1838, traveling by coach, steamboat, canal and horseback, through the States of New York, Ohio, Michigan and the province of Canada. In New York he rode behind the first locomotive built in that State, then running out of Albany. At Toronto, Canada, he was employed in a book bindery and mill, doing the work more rapidly and efficiently than any of the native hands. In Ohio he fell in with a jolly dentist, of whom he began to learn the art of dentistry, afterward practicing his new trade at Fort Wayne. After residing at Logansport and Delphi, this State, for a time, he went to Greencastle and commenced the study of law in the office of Edward W. McGoughey, read two years, and then in 1840, moved to this county and began the practice of his profession, continuing for five years. Since then he has been a tradesman and agriculturist. At first he purchased forty acres, to which he has since made additions until he has 1,300 acres of rich Wabash bottom, whereon he sometimes raises immense crops of corn, occasionally 50,000 bushels or
more, and sometimes, by flood or frost, he also loses immense crops. The sediment desposited by the Wabash floods keeps the soil very rich. During the year of the famine in Ireland, Mr. Davis took to New Orleans by flat-boat 25,000 bushels of corn, some of which he bought at 18 cents a bushel, and sold it at 45 cents to $1 per bushel. He is said to have sold in one season $18,000 worth of corn raised by his own hands.
Mr. Davis is familiar with legislation, being a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850, a member of the General Assembly three terms, a delegate to various important conventions, etc. In his politics he has been a Democrat, Republican, National, etc., and in his religion he is a "free-thinker." He is a man of firm principles and a high sense of justice.
One night some years ago, Mr. H. F. Jackson, residing about three and a half miles south of Newport, heard his dog making a terrible noise. About midnight he arose, went out, and discovering the smoke-house door open, concluded it had been inadvertently left open by the family, closed it, and returned to bed, thinking all was safe. But by closing the smoke-house door he unawares locked up a thief within. Next morning Mr. Jackson reconnoitering around to see what he could discover, noticed a hole in the ground dug out under the wall of the smoke-house. The thief had to work his way through a large puddle of water in order to get out, thinking doubtless that he was lucky to get off as well as he did.
In Sepember, 1873, Mr. and Mrs. Brennan, living a mile west of Newport, received a visit from their daughter, whom they thought they had lost twenty-one years previously, when they left her temporarily in the care of some one at New Orleans during a fearful siege of cholera. She had been found during the preceding summer by a relative in Ohio, advertising in the Irish Republic, a Boston newspaper. She was then a resident of New Orleans and the mother of four children. Mr. and Mrs. Brennan, on learning their daughter was still alive and residing in New Orleans, immediately concluded to visit her; but before starting they received a letter from her stating that she was coming to see them. Accordingly she soon arrived a Newport, late at night, on her way; and such was her anxiety to see her parents that night, although it was dark and raining, that she engaged a team and was immediately taken out to the desired goal, where a meeting occurred too exciting to describe. The daughter remained until spring. Her mother died a few weeks after the visit.
Of anecdotes of the chase, perhaps the latest is the account of the "fox drive" had February 26, 1886, in this township, when 200 men, women and children succeeded in catching one fox.
A great human curiosity exists in Vermillion Township. Ludia J. Clark, about three and a half miles southwest of Newport, was born in March, 1882, and at the age of five years weighed 105 pounds, and was apparently as mature in her intellect and physical development as a girl in her 'teens. At the date of writing, July, 1887, she is still gaining in weight as rapidly as ever. Her parents do not seem to be characterized by anything abnormal.
Quaker Hill, sometimes called Quaker Point, is the name of a fine neighborhood in a romantic section of country on Jonathan Creek near the western boundary of Vermillion Township. The place takes its name from the fact that an unusual proportion of the settlement consists of "Quakers." The