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A Brief History of Early Settlers
and Settlement of Jasper County
Abstracted primarily from A Standard
History of Jasper and Newton Counties, Indiana 1, by
Ann Mensch.
A Standard History of Jasper and
Newton Counties, Indiana (1916), reports of early Jasper county
settlement:
"Until the treaty of 1832, Jasper County was
not open to white settlers, nor was there any considerable migration
toward
that locality. The incoming tide had risen principally from the
East
and South and flooded the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
through the Valley of the Ohio and its tributaries. These
sections afforded abundant opportunites for the selection of choice
farms, even beyond the
demand, and they lay within the radius of the natural source of
supplies
and the most complete lines of communication of that period.
Northwestern
Indiana, below the Kankakee, was some distance from either. The
character
of the country also operated to discourage immigration, it being
generally
described as alternate swamps, sterile sand ridges and flat, wet
prairies.
Its name as a game center, however, induced the more adventuresome to
seek
out the region in quest of sport and profit, and the realization of
both
and the gleaning of the truth, through the striking of a happy medium,
eventually brought the first permanent settlers." (p. 40)
The first permanent settler, of Jasper county,
is reported to have been William Donahue. He located in what is
now Gillam Township, as early as 1821, drawn by the good trapping and
trade prospects with the Indians. Remaining many years, William
Donahue was a justice of peace before Jasper County was organized.
Others soon joined William in settling Jasper
County. A description of the relocation of the YEOMAN and NOWELS
households
to the area, may help to illustrate the early settlers' experiences:
"In the fall of 1834, Joseph Yeoman and John
and David Nowels settled at the Falls of the Iroquois. Mr. Yeoman
was
a son-in-law of John Nowels, who had moved from Ohio to Fountain
County,
Indiana. While residing there Mr. Yeoman proposed to move into
the
new country opened by the recent Indian treaties. With John
Nowels,
the son David, and his own wife, Sarah, Mr. Yeoman therefore located in
Illinois, on the Iroquois River, near the Indiana line at a place known
as Bunkum. While living there the families learned of the Falls
of
the Iroquois, the locality so noted for its fine fishing and hunting,
and
in 1834, the men started for their new Indiana home. Attaching a
yoke
of oxen to the forward wheels of a wagon and fixing a cart to carry
what
they would need while gone, the party followed the course of the river
to
the falls. There, much pleased with the prospect, Yeoman left the
Nowels
family, father and son, and returned to Bunkum to arrange matters for
the
removal of the household to the new site. This done, David Nowels
returned
to Bunkum with the oxen, and both families were settled at the Falls of
the
Iroquois by the fall of 1835. There were no neighbors to assist
at
the "raising" of their cabin, which was accomplished by the three men,
Mrs.
Yeoman and the oxen." (pp. 40-41)
It was here, on the old Yeoman homestead, that
Daniel H. Yeoman was born to Joseph Yeoman and his wife, Sarah, in
1841. The infant Daniel would later be a Captain during the Civil
War, and reportedly remain the owner of this original homestead at the
age of 75 years.
A list of many of these early settlers, with approximate settlement
years, follows. This list is not meant to be a complete and/or
verified list, but rather as leads to names which may be found in early
Jasper County. Many of these names, which are included in A
Standard History of Jasper and Newton Counties, Indiana (1916),
were reported to have been included in a list of pioneers, by the Old
Settlers' Society:
1832: William DONAHUE and Aaron LYONS.
1834: Joseph and Sarah YEOMAN; John and David
NOWELS; Charles G. WRIGHT, resided earlier in White county, Charles
came to the area as an Indian trader; Thomas RANDLE, reportedly of
Virginia, his son, James T. RANDLE later lived in Rensselaer; George
CULP, reportedly of Virginia, and William MALLATT.
1835: Royal HAZELTON; John G. PARKINSON, Henry
BARKLEY, Jr.; Jackson PHEGLEY; Mrs. Malinda SPITLER and J. T. RANDLE.
1836: David PHEGLEY; John JORDAN, who reportedly
migrated from Tipton County and located in Carpenter's Grove, Jasper
County; Mr.
and Mrs. Samuel SPARLING; Henry A. SPARLING and Marion L. SPITLER.
1837: William K. PARKINSON; Addison PARKINSON and
Joseph V. PARKINSON.
1838: George H. BROWN; Jared BENJAMIN; Joseph W.
SPARKLING; Joseph WILLIAMS; Mrs. David NOWELS; Mrs. W. K. PARKINSON;
Mrs. William SHAW and Miss Belle BARKLEY.
1839: Samuel E. YEOMAN; Stewart C. HAMMOND; Mrs.
William BURNS; Mrs. H. C. THORNTON and Mrs. Joseph SPARKLING.
1840: Nathaniel WYATT; D. M. PRICE; W. J. WRIGHT;
Sidney STEWART; Thomas R. PARKER; Mrs. William COCKRILL; Mrs. Benjamin
WELSH.
1841: Lemuel HANKLE; Rial BENJAMIN; William NOLAND;
and Mrs. G. H. BROWN.
1842: Alexander ROWEN; Samuel McCULLOUGH; Samuel
LONG; Joseph C. HENKLE; John A. HENKLE; John W. DUVALL and Jabez
WRIGHT.
1843: Andrew FARRIS; Henry SAYLER; H. C. THORNTON
and C. C. THORNTON.
1844: Joseph YEOMAN; James YEOMAN; Wesley DOWNING;
Madison MAKEEVER; Ira W. YEOMAN and Clement TIMMONS.
1845: George KESLER; Lemuel SHORTRIDGE; Abram
FREELAND; John DAUGHERTY; Daniel DAUGHERTY; Lewis L. DAUGHERTY; William
H. DAUGHERTY; Simon PHILLIPS and L. W. SAYERS.
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