SLIM TIMBER AND ROUND GROVE— FIRST SETTLER, TRUMAN ROLLINS— EARLY LAND ENTRIES— THE STOCKTON PURCHASES— BECAME LAND OWNERS IN 1850-53— CARVED OUT OF OLD PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP— ELECTIONS AND VOTERS— VARIOUS PIONEER MATTERS— FORMER POSTOFFICES— PROGRESS IN THE TOWNSHIP.
Round Grove Township comprises the thirty-six square miles in the southwest corner of White County, and is described by the surveyors as the west half of congressional township 25 north, range 5 west, and the east half of congressional township 25 north, range 6 west.
Round Grove was the western part of the original Prairie Township, created in 1834, and remained attached to it until it assumed a separate political body in 1858. It is in the eastern borders of the Great Prairie and has only two pronounced tracts of timber within its limits; the narrow strip near the north line is appropriately called Slim Timber, and the considerable wooded area known as Round Grove (from which the township is named) lies in the southeastern portion, mostly in section 29.
The first settlements were made in the northwestern and the southeastern sections of the township, and most of the logs for the pioneer cabins in those localities came from Round Grove, which covered an area of some fifty acres. Although it is a matter of record that Charles L. Stockton entered the land in section 29, which virtually embraces the famous grove, in 1836, he did not take up his residence in the township until years afterward.
Truman Rollins, pronounced to be the first who came to reside permanently, was a farmer of Tippecanoe County and did not arrive on the wild prairie of section 11, in what is now the northwestern portion of the township, until the spring of 1850. It did not take Rollins long to cut enough logs from Round Grove for his cabin of 16 by 18 feet. As it stood in the open prairie, it was the only building in what is now Round Grove Township, and there was none other for miles around. Besides the tract upon which he built, Mr. Rollins had entered lands in section 10, during 1846, and in section 15, 1848, and he subsequently bought various pieces of swamp land in section 14. He was, therefore, the leading land owner in the northwestern sections.
Jeremiah Stanly, a son-in-law of Rollins, also ventured into the township, in the spring of 1850, and for a short time shared the solitary cabin. A little later he erected a house of his own, within calling distance of his father-in-Law. Before the end of the year Thomas Rollins also appeared on the scene and shared the pioneer cabin with its builder.
The first entry recorded for what is the present Round Grove Township is that of John White, who filed his claim on certain lands in section 22, township 25, range 6, near the western county line, in February, 1835. The second is that already briefly noted, of Charles L. Stockton, in section 29, township 25, range 5. Then, in April, 1846, comes the Rollins entry in section 10. In 1847 the following entered lands in township 25, range 5: John Rowland, in section 19; Newberry Stockton, in section 20; James S. Chilton, in section 29.
The following purchases of Government land were made in township 25, range 6: In 1848—Patrick H. Weaver, in sections 10 and 11; Truman Rollins, in section 15, and E. C. Buskirk, in section 22; in 1849—James Carson, in section 10, and Martin Bishop, in sections 10 and 11. These tracts were in the western and northwestern sections of the township.
In 1850, about the time that Truman Rollins was actually making settlement and taking up lands in the northwestern portion of the township, both Charles L. and Newberry Stockton were about to enter extensive tracts of land in sections 30, 31 and 32, south and west of Round Grove. In section 30 alone they purchased 160 acres of canal lands. Their descendants still own large farming tracts in that portion of the township.
Other entries in 1850 were by Cornelius Morris, in section 19, township 25, range 5, and Patrick H. Weaver, in section 14; Jacob Weaver, in section 15, and Daniel Brawley, in section 22, township 25, range 6.
The following entered lands in 1851, in township 25, range 5: John Carroll, in section 7; Charles White, in section 8, and Jasper Vidito, in section 19. In township 25, range 6, these entries were made: Truman Rollins, in section 11; John Carroll, in section 12, and Austin Ward, in section 13.
In 1852 the following entered Lands in township 25, range 5: All of section 4 purchased by Phineas M. Kent, and certain lots by Newberry Stockton in section 19. Martin Bishop purchased lands in section 14, and Michael Carroll, in section 12, township 25, range 6—also in 1852.
In 1858 Stewart Rariden and Samuel H. Buskirk became owners of land in section 18, township 25, range 5, and Austin Ward in section 13, township 25, range 6.
The board of county commissioners received a petition from a majority of the voters in the territory of White County west of the middle of range 5, congressional township 25, praying that they erect a new political township therefrom, and the prayer was granted soon alter it was offered, in December, 1858. Austin Ward suggested that it be called Round Grove Township, and it was thus carved out of old Prairie Township; thereafter the voters in that part of the county were not obliged to go to Brookston when they wished to exercise their rights.
The final touches to the new township were made on the 31st of December, when the board ordered that an election should be held at the Round Grove, or Stanly schoolhouse, which had been built near the center of the township during the previous year. It was a frame building, 16 by 18 feet, and well worthy of such an honor. Austin Ward, the godfather of the township, was appointed inspector of elections, and he was on hand at the schoolhouse to see fair play at the appointed time—the first Monday in April, 1859.
At this first election in Round Grove Township, Stewart Rariden and John Rollins acted as judges of election and Samuel Ballintyne as clerk, and the following fifteen cast their ballots: John Larrabee, Robert McQueen, Roger Baker, John Apes, Stephen E. Baker, James Carrol, Thomas Rountene, Michael T. Buskirk, Granville Ward, Jeremiah Stanly, Stewart Rariden, John Rollins, Austin Ward, Samuel Ballintyne and Milton W. Weaver. The township officers elected were: Samuel Ballintyne, justice of the peace; Stewart Rariden, constable; Milton Weaver, trustee, and Joseph Harris, supervisor.
At the state election, held at the Round Grove schoolhouse on the second Tuesday in October, 1860, the number of voters was increased by ten, as will be proven by the list: William Beck, Thomas Rolllns, Granville Ward, Isaiah Bice, Samuel Ballintyne, Stephen E. Baker, James Carrol, John Apes, Edward Steely, Robert N. Brink, James Martin, L. B. Stockton, William H. Martin, Patrick Conner, Stewart Rariden, Jeremiah Stanly, John Demso, Nimrod Leister, M. W. Weaver, Robert McQueen, Austin Ward, Michael Buskirk, Samuel D. Barnes and L. W. Wolgamuth.
The first white child born in the township is supposed to have been Samuel Rariden, son of Stewart and Mary Jane Rariden; Nancy Buskirk was born at about the same time.
The first person who died in Round Grove Township was Truman Rollins, whose remains were interred in a private burial ground in Tippecanoe County. It will be remembered that he was also the first settler.
The first persons married were Francis M. Mullendore and Jane Ward, who afterward became residents of Monticello.
Elizabeth Ballintyne was the first teacher, and she taught in the Stanly schoolhouse, or District School No. 1.
A Methodist class was organized about 1870, and among its members were Isaac Smith, Robert Smith, John Russell, George Mitchner and Thomas Guntrip, with their wives.
There has [sic] been two postoffices in Round Grove Township—one at Round Grove, established in 1879, and the other at Dern, established in 1881. The first postmaster at the latter was Dr. A. Jackson Dern, the only physician of the township for some time.
These postoffices have been absorbed for some years by the rural free delivery, which is such a convenience, not to call it a blessing to such farming communities as compose the population and assure the prosperity of Round Grove Township. It has now little undrained land, and as the soil is rich and well cultivated the district stands well as a constant producer of good crops of corn, oats and hay. Its citizens have also been faithful, to the extent of their means, in the construction of substantial gravel roads. In the prosecution of that work the various highways have incurred the following debts: Hewitt, $2,380; Parks, $7,200; Demerle, $5,920; Eller, $6,560; Krapff, $5,400. Total, $27,460.