The Early History of Knightstown
 Main St about 1910 |
 The Town Square c.1930 |
A History of Knightstown, Indiana
(This was sent to me by Lois Thompson Roland. It was written in 1976 at the direction of the Town Board)
HISTORY AND HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CORPORATE T0WN OF KNIGHTSTOWN, INDIANA.
FOREWORD:
In the preparation of this material for future generations of townspeople or others whom might be interested in the official actions of the Town of Knightstown by its Trustees, this work is set forth. The information contained herein was for the most part, taken directly from the Official Records of the Town.
Obviously, each and every Town meeting together with its agenda, discussions and eventual disposition was not and could not be completely covered in this brief history. Thus only the highlights have been made use of.
It is believed that this material together with private and personal data and information elsewhere available, will amplify and collaborate this document. The information was made available through the courtesy and co-operation of Mrs. Robert (Shirley) Thompson, Clerk-Treasurer of the Town of Knightstown, Wayne Township, Henry County, Indiana.
The little settlement on the west bank of Big Blue River was just that, until and when, through common consent of its inhabitants, it took the name of Knightstown, in 1827. As is well known, the town was named in honor of one of the surveyor who laid out the original route of The National Road, Mr. Jonathan Knight. Probably a few cabins and a trading post comprised the first settlement. Seemingly and by virtue of its high location, the river, its timber, foreseeable agricultural and its location midway between Indianapolis and Richmond prompted its settlers to desire town status. This evidently being true, an interested group of men were selected as Trustees for the purpose of organizing the hamlet as a chartered town. Pursuant to the law and the custom, the following seven men made application for a charter for the town: Elias Evans, Paul Harris, Asa Heaton, George Davis, Robert Woods, Issac Hule, and Joseph Whitsell.
In March of 1837 the formal incorporation charter was granted to these seven men as trustee-incorporators and Knightstown officially became a Town by Act of the Indiana Legislature. A town election was held and the following Board Members were elected by the citizens- George Davis, Edward K Hart, Elias Evans, John Bales, Robert D Johnson, Asa Heaton and David Fraily. In the immediate Board organization process, George Davis was elected Presiding officer, and Henry Carroll was appointed Clerk-Treasurer. The next action was the appointment of M.F. Edwards as Town Marshall.
A Town Plat was approved by the Board to include four original Wards. Their boundaries are herein below described: Ward #1, The real estate bounded on the east by Blue River, Adams Street on the west, Clay Street on the south (now known as Main Street- Old U.S. 40) and on the north by Brown Street. Ward #2, the real estate bounded by Adams on the east, Clay on the south, Washington on the west and Brown on the north. Ward #3, Blue River on the east, Clay on the north, Adams on the west and Jackson on the south. Ward #4 bounded by Adams on the east, Washington on the west, Clay on the north and Jackson on the south.
Old map of Knightstown showing the original plat, (in blue).
Later Wards five, six and seven were added west and north of the original plat. In 1921 the plat and the town was re-zoned to have but five wards.
With the arrival of a few additional settlers, many with skills of coopers, millrights, blacksmiths, tinners; etc. the town slowly grew. Log cabins were replaced by homes and businesses constructed of stone, obtained north of town on the banks of Blue River; bricks burned in local kilns and those of frame, in planed lumber. A grist mill, and a sawmill was built, using the water power of Blue River and Montgomery Creek.
Naturally the War between the states had its impact on this struggling little coach stop on the National Road. Having among its populace but few people of southern sympathy, most of the younger men to go to service joined the Union Army. After the conflict the returning veterans formed the Jerry B. Mason Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, a patriotic organization that carried on until the early nineteen-twenties, at which time death and age ravaged the ranks of this once powerful national group, known as the G.A.R.
With some additional growth after the Civil War, the need for a local money and a credit supply was evidenced. Men interested in farming wanted to expand and clear more land.
Business men needed a cash flow for inventory increase, and building new structures for stores, small factory enterprises, as well for personal needs. So, in 1865 Robert Woods, one of the early settlers, organized and obtained a charter for a banking house. Since its inception that same bank has been operated, helping to meet the financial needs of this and other nearby communities. It is known today as the First National Bank of Knightstown. Again in 1905 with growth and the need for more capital, Leonidas P. Newby, a wealthy and influential young lawyer, together with other local business men and affluent farmers organized the Citizens National Bank, which exists today as a sound and progressive financial institution. Both banks came under the purview and by legal consent through ordinance of the Town Board.
The drilling and successful use of natural gas in the eastern part of Indiana was eminent in 1887, when a far-sighted Town Board granted by ordinance, the Knightstown Natural Gas Company a fifty year lease to install lines and equipment in order that the town and its citizens might have the use of this natural heating and lighting element. Later on another Gas Utility was formed and like privilege was extended by the Board.
Additional growth of the Town made consideration of a public water supply inevitable. In 1894 the Town Fathers passed an Ordinance for the construction of a Town Water Works.
Accordingly, wells were drilled, a pumping station was erected (which still stands and is in use today) and lines were lain for the town supply. A bond issue for $20,000.00 was made for this utility.
As in every pioneer settlement, disaster and property loss by fire was a constant threat and serious danger. Remembering that most of the construction was, in the early days of the town, wood construction, bucket brigades, however ableand willing, faced for the most part defeat, when the Town Fire Bell rang. With the recent advent of a Town Water Supply, and its accompanying water lines over the growing village, the organization and sponsorship by the town officially of a fire department came about.
With town funds, equipment was purchased and a volunteer fire department as such, was instituted. These loyal volunteer firemen have faithfully and certainly most ably carried on their efforts from that early day until the present. Every man who has served or is presently serving as a volunteer fireman in Knightstown merits the deepest gratitude from every citizen for their outstanding prevention and control of fires in the community.
Nothing had ever been effectively done about sewage disposal on a town wide basis until 1898, at which time the Town Board passed an ordinance authorizing the construction
of a sewer, running east and west on Warrick Street and emptying into Blue River on the west bank. Property connections were permitted and, in fact, encouraged but the enforcement appeared not to be too drastic, as many properties continued the use of out-houses, even beyond the turn of the century and later. The original sewer was extended as the growth of the subdivisions of the town increased, and as a result, outlets were made in Montgomery Creek west of town. The system became inadequate and in 1974 a Town Ordinance was passed authorizing the construction of a completely new sewage system for the town corporation and a disposal plant that would meet federal and state sanitary and environmental laws, rules, and regulations. The cost was $4,700,000 The final completion of the total installation is scheduled to be late in 1976.
As time advanced, communication between Knightstown and other cities, towns and villages became necessary and important. Small towns were not to be isolated for this lack, due to the invention of the telephone and telegraph. As of consequence, in 1897 the Town officially granted permission to Harry Watts, Sr. and W.S. Garritson to install the necessary lines, poles, and equipment to provide interested subscribers telephone service. In like manner, the Western Union Telegraph Company was given proper authority to bring in wire service to the community. Thus by 1892 Knightstown had communication with the outside world, other than that provided by the postal service.
The coming of the first railroad through Knightstown was indeed a propitious event. It made travel possible, other than on horseback or by wagon, between the Town and other villages. The granting by ordinance to the first and subsequent rail lines was a part of the action of the Board. This was necessary because both the Pittsburg and Eastern (now the Penn.Central) and the Big Four (now a branch line of the NY Central) passed through the corporate limits of the Town. In 1900, like authority was granted to the Indiana Railroad Company to build a track east and west on Main Street for the use of Electric Interurban Cars. This line connected Indianapolis and Richmond and followed east to west Richmond and Indianapolis. Later on a spur line was built from Dunreith north to connect to New Castle.
The bringing of people together in the semi-close confinement of a town brings with it hazards concerning public health. From the records it is believed that no real serious community wide illness or epidemic occurred, other than the seasonal individual bouts with recognizable communicable diseases. But in 1902 this was immediately changed. An epidemic of small pox of town-wide proportions quickly occurred. There is some confusion as to exactly who brought this scourge to the Town. But it did come and effected the majority of the families in the town, one way or the other.
The Town Board in emergency session, began at once to deal with the situation. Dr Olin E Holloway, a young physician, who had been trained in medical school in the use of antitoxins, was placed in authority by the Board. All other physicians of the town were members of his staff and all endeavored to treat and control this disastrous out-break. The Town purchased a large, brick house southeast of Knightstown from Charles Owens for the sum of $2900.00 and allocated it as an isolation and treatment hospital. It was locally known as the Pest House. Many deaths resulted from this epidemic and the strictest of rules was promulgated by the Town Board to conquer small pox here. Finally, it was conquered, the antitoxins were effective in most cases, and within a year the health situation was back to normal.
Town records disclose that by authority of Ordinance #203 as of the date of December 30, 1907, the sum of $12,000.00 was raised by bond sale to fund an electric light plant,poles, lines, and general equipment for the system. This additional utility service was born of the need for electricity in the homes of the community, as well as business and the small industries that existed. A goodly number of light standards were erected on Main Street to effectually light the thoroughfare, and aid citizens in store buying and travel after dark. Later on street lighting was substantially increased. As a matter of interest, when electricity was made available to the private homes, each person could have a porch light free of charge, provided they allowed it to burn from sunset to sun rise. Thus, the age of candles, kerosene lamps, and gas lighting for homes and businesses began its disappearance.
Throughout the history of the many and varied actions of the Knightstown Board of Trustees, it is quite obvious from a study of their official records that these men made every effort to perform their responsibilities with honesty ad integrity. Without a doubt they were, by and large, dedicated to the proposition that the good, the growth, and the progress of the community was in their trust. They must have been, and this to their credit, conservative men in granting rights and privileges and spending the tax money of the Town. Most were self made and had come up the hard way, experiencing wars, panics, and depressions. A few could not stand the pressures and as consequence, resigned without fulfilling their terms of office. Most stood the test. For the large majority who stood firm on controversial issues, public criticism, changes in federal, state and county regulations laws, Knightstown today, in 1976 is a solvent, solid, clean well ordered town.
In this Bi-centennial year of 1976 the Town is indeed fortunate to have its present leadership in the persons of the Town Trustees. They are named as follows:
CLARENCE POST, President of the Board;
THOMAS EDDY,
JAMES LUKENS,
ROBERT THOMPSON,
RONALD ELLIOTT,
Mrs. Shirley Thompson is the Clerk-Treasurer.
Other personnel making up the Town’s supervisory staff of project units are as follows:
Arnold Butler,Marshall And Town Works Manager With Six Deputies.
Phillip Rose, City Judge
Richard Richey, Fire Chief, And 20 Active Volunteer Firemen.
City Water Service Foreman: Gilbert Orrell
City Sewage Plant Manager, Thomas Palmer.
Electric Service Foreman, Gerald Mayberry
The Town Office clerical staff is composed of Mrs.Lillian Williams and Mrs.Juanita Messick;
Willard M Avery is Town Attorney.
In its beginnings the Town Board met in stated and emergency sessions in various locations in the Town. Early in the nineteen-hundreds the Town erected a brick building on North Franklin Street, one-half square north of Main Street. Atop was placed a belfry, in which hung the town fire bell,used to alert the people of a fire.
In 1960 ground was purchased one half square south of Main Street on Washington Street, and a new building was erected as a Town Hall. Contained therein are appropriate offices for the utilities, a vault for the safe keeping of all records, a conference room, jail cells, and police headquarters. Immediately adjacent to the south is the Fire Station wherein all mobile fire equipment is housed. All this is considered to be convenient and adequate for the services that are available for the citizens of Knightstown.
Prepared June 10, 1976 by H.C.GORDON.
A History of Knightstown, Indiana written in 1884
This was written in 1884 and describes the Knightstown of about 1840. It was reprinted in the Banner in January, 1941
This beautiful and prosperous town is situated on the west bank of the Blue River, near the southern line of Wayne township. The country surrounding it is rich and well improved. The National Road and the main line of the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh
Railroad pass through the town, and Knightstown is an important trading point and its citizens are enterprising, energetic, and many of them wealthy. For substantial and elegant business houses, tasty private residences, good schools and churches, few towns of equal population can surpass Knightstown.
The town was platted in 1827, just after the National Road was located, and named in honor of Jonathan Knight, an engineer employed by the government upon the road. Waitsell M. Cary was the first settler and the proprietor of the town. He moved, from Springfield, Ohio, to the old village of West Liberty about 1825 and there followed the hatters trade for two years. He purchased the greater portion of the tract now the site of the town and when the National Road was surveyed, had the land laid off in town lots.
About 1830 he began to furnish entertainment for travelers and in 1832 opened a licensed tavern. The next house erected after Cary’s was built by Dawson Sanford. Sanford died two years after coming here, his death being the first in the town. George Martz built the third house in town. A man named Isham. in 1829 or 1830 erected the house now owned by Howell Swain, which is one of the oldest buildings now standing. The first birth in the town was that of a child to the wife of George Martz. The first marriage was solemnized in February, 1830, by Judge Anderson of Raysville, Ind., uniting Asa Heaton and Mary, daughter of W. M. Cary. The first store was opened in 1829 by Isaac James and Levi Griffith in partnership. Other early merchants were: J. P. Low and James Wood.
The first physician was Dr. Hiatt who was also an early teacher in the town. He remained here about two years. He was a Quaker from Richmond, to which place he returned.
Dr Joseph M. Whitesell, now the oldest physician in Henry county settled in Knightstown in 1831.
The Knightstown Post Office was established in 1832. James McColly was the first postmaster. His successors in the office have been: John Mayes, Asa Heaton, Fielding L. Goble, George Davis, A. B. Fithian, J. W. White, Edward B. Niles, Valentine Steiner, John Bell and others.
The town grew slowly. Its aspect remained wild and primitive. Even after 1830 bears were sometimes seen in the streets of the town, and one well-known citizen had a memorable adventure with one. The morals of the village were not exactly correct,
according to modern standards (the standards of 1884). The amount of fighting and whiskey drinking was large in proportion to the population. These features passed away most gradually.
An old resident who came to Knightstown in 1837, ten years after the town was founded, thus describes the place at that time: “The population did not exceed 500. Most of the houses were on Main street or the National Road, though there were some buildings on the town streets parallel with Main; the houses were small and all of wood.
Fielding L. Goble put up the first brick house during the year 1837. The principal merchants were: Hart & Tate. Low & McCain. and Woods & Johnson. The principal tavern, which was also the Stage Office was kept by H. Dillon.
Another description of Knightstown was given in The Indiana Sun. editorially. under the heading “Our Town” in 1839: “What beauties are presented in the town? Alas! They are few, The site is level and extended; the streets are wide, but how they look – un-shaded, muddy, unpaved, and without sidewalks. The public square is in part a mud hole, strewed with wood and chips and fragments of old timber; the market house until recently a hog shelter, the alleys are blocked with heaps of offal.
(Note how frank were those editors in ye olden days, yet the beauty of the present public parks. the shade of the present tree lined avenues, and other man made beauties in evidence in the Knightstown of today, stand out as a comparison most striking, and are testimony to the spirit of those who followed this account, and who corrected the condition thus reported, and as to the alley ways, many of them today, well lined with lilac bushes, often 8 to 12 feet high, likewise attest a most tremendous change. Still the old description is most valuable in showing the work accomplished by the pioneers who followed those early days).
Continuing the editorial of 1839 we discover: “The houses are, many of them unsightly, being low, ill-shaped and some of them not painted at all. Here and there is a good looking building with handsome shade around, but too many are entirely out of taste. This, however is incidental to all new towns, that spring up in the West, and arises from poverty of the first settlers and the unskillfulness of artists. Our town surpasses many others in appearance of its buildings already and is gradually improving. As the wealth of its citizens increases, which will be proportionate to the growth of the country around, mean homes will give place to better ones. The unfinished state of the National Road is a great hindrance to the improvement of this town. Its speedy completion would give the place a new start, and encourage the citizens to bestow pains upon the buildings and streets; but they need not put off everything ’till our fickle-minded and dilatory government shall finish the road! It is in their power to improve now. Small houses may be made to look neat. There are a few examples of such scattered through the village.”
In 1840 the entire population of Wayne township, including Knightstown, was 2,480.
Jonathan Knight 1787 - 1858
by: T.B. Deem
(This was in the Banner in 1940)
To the people along the route of the National Road through Henry County, Indiana the name of Jonathan Knight, who was one of the chief engineers who surveyed and laid out this great highway – the greatest in America and the world’s history – sounds as the title of some mythical personage in the great past. About all they know is that the town of Knightstown was named for him, and that it is the only town of its name in the wide world.
It has seemed to me for several years that our people should seek more information concerning our city’s progenitor; and to this end I have spent a good deal of time looking up matters and data which, when joined, would make up a coherent narrative of Mr. Knight’s life, works and personality. I have been more successful than I expected to be when I began my inquiries. Subjoined is a statement of what I have found out regarding this interesting character:, T.B. Deem…
Jonathan Knight was the son of Abel and Ann S. Knight, and was born in Bucks County, Penn., on the 22nd day of November, 1787. His father was a weaver by trade, but could survey land and teach school. He removed his family in 1801 into East Bethelin, Washington County, where Jonathan lived until the date of his death. In early life the limited means of his father did not permit of his being educated in an academy or college. His facilities for instruction were confined to ordinary primary schools existing at that time in the country. He was required by his father to be industrious. When quite young his unquenchable thirst for knowledge impelled him to read and: study at home—mostly at night. He thus acquired a habit of close application to work and study, laying the foundation of a good American education. He early showed a peculiar talent for the exact sciences and mathematics; at the age of 12 years he had worked Dilmith’s Arithmetic through, and had set the result down in a blank book. Soon after commencing with this arithmetic he was looking forward in the book and discovered the process of extracting square root and so told his father, who hesitated to believe it, but Jonathan satisfied him by immediately working a number of examples. After this he needed little instruction as he advanced in the science of numbers.
He studied surveying with his father; and when 18 years old he obtained Bonny Castle’s Algebra, and studied it successfully into quadratic equations. At this time he had never met a person who understood Algebra. During the next year, being informed about a person who was teaching Algebra in a near-by town, he went there and received lessons for three or four months. This was the extent of his schooling in mathematics. About this time he cultivated the habit of solving questions or problems by mental process while engaged in work on his father’s farm, or in drawing wood home in the winter season. Upon starting to the woods for a load he would read a question which he would work out while away; and when he returned and had unloaded the wagon, he would go into the house to warm, and while there he would set the solution down, and read up on another problem before again starting to the woods, and so continued to obtain a grasp on the most intricate parts of scientific facts.
He was in the habit, at an early age, of close observation. Upon entering a building in process of erection he would observe its dimensions and then proceed to estimate the quantity of materials needed in construction, if brick, the number of them and even the number of shingles and nails to be used. In 1809 he married Ann Heston in a meeting of the Society of Friends and in accordance with their rites; and he continued during his lifetime in the fellowship of that Society.
When twenty-one years old Jonathan Knight commenced teaching school and surveying land on his own account. These occupations he pursued until the spring of 1815 when he purchased land intending to become a farmer and surveyor. His engagements for surveying land became so numerous, however, that he found little time to attend to his farm. The next year, 1816, he was appointed by the Pennsylvania State government to make the survey and map of Washington County as a necessary part to facilitate the forming of Melish’s Map or Atlas of the State. This duty involved much field labor. The instrumental surveying requiring100 days in its performance. This service having been satisfactorily performed, Mr. Knight served three years as County Commissioner, to which office he was elected by the people.
Soon afterward he entered the field of civil engineering having served in subordinate stations in the preliminary surveys of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and in those for the National Road between Cumberland and Wheeling. The greatest work of the country in those days was the National Road from Washington City to Wheeling.
In 1825 he was appointed Commissioner by the Federal Government to extend that road from Wheeling through the states of Ohio and Indiana. Mr. Knight, a profound mathematician and an able, honest man was brought into the service of the new company. He brought along with him his Superintendent of Construction a Mr. Weaver, who had built miles and miles of turn-pikes in Ohio.
These men came from a sandstone country where rock could be cut like cheese and they encountered many problems in handling the granite formations in the mountains. A mission of engineers was sent to England for technical information, while the surveying was going on at home. Everything was done with an eager enthusiasm unequaled in our enterprising annals, and the work was pushed through without graft.
After the organization of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co in April, 1827, Mr. Knight and Col. Stephen H. Long were selected by the Board of Directors to make surveys of the country through which the railroad was to pass. The effect of turning curves of 400-foot radius at fast speed was new in the history of railroads. It was developed to a greater degree of perfection on the B. & O. than on any other contemporaneous line, through
the efforts of these able engineers. A judicious and scientific construction of the tread of the main wheels was introduced by Mr. Knight; by combination of cone and cylinder construction, which expedient had never been attempted in this country or Europe. During his work on this road Mr. Knight again visited England to acquire more knowledge of the intricate problems surrounding the gigantic undertaking.
In 1835 he made a personal examination of the country between Cumberland, Md., and the Ohio river to ascertain the best route for the railroad across the Alleghenies,. In this work he exhibited that correctness of eye and accuracy in distance and observations for which he was so remarkable.
In 1842 he resigned his position as an officer of the B. & O. and retired to his farm in Pennsylvania. However, he was employed as Consulting Engineer of the Company on important questions.
In Stuart’s “Lives and Works of Civil and Military Engineers of America,” is to be found the following comment upon the attributes which made Mr. Knight famous: “The leading characteristics of Mr. Knight, as a professional man, were strongly marked and entitled him to a high rank. His aptitude for the acquisition of knowledge in the exact sciences was unsurpassed. The habit of close thinking into which he was led by the natural tendencies of his mind to mathematical investigation made him reason rigidly in all subjects, and gave him a philosophical cast to his conversation upon every subject that he touched”.
In political economy Mr. Knight was well versed and expressed enlightened and comprehensive views upon subjects of banking, trade, manufacturing and agriculture. Politics also was a favorite theme with him, and upon public measures he always expressed broad and national views. He discussed the characters of public men with spirit, and often with a sarcastic humor which marked his conversation upon most subjects. The character of Henry Clay seemed to be his ideal of a statesman and orator.
He reared a large family, ten children, fulfilling his domestic duties in an exemplary manner. He left a comfortable estate after having settled all his children during his own life time. He was taken suddenly ill with bilious colic in a very severe form and died on his birthday anniversary, Nov. 22, 1858, aged 71 years.
Here’s another interesting very early history. I copied this off the Henry County Genealogical Services web site:
Knightstown, Indiana, Its Early History
Nathan H. Ballenger
(1823 - 1905)
His Paper Read Before the Henry County Historical Society 31 Oct 1899
My subject today is of necessity, essentially local, and will not therefore be alike interesting to all my hearers. But to me it has many points of deep interest. While it is not the place of my birth, it is the place of my childhood, youth and manhood. Here is the place of my early contest with nature in its rude attire. Here I saw the forest melt away before the axe man’s unrelenting arm, saw the first rude cabin reared and demolished afterwards to give place to the stately mansion of the well-to-do pioneer.
Here I entered the primitive of schools the county, taught in log cabins with puncheon floors and greased paper for windows. Here I gave chase to the wild boar, deer and turkey, all of which have given place to the onward march of civilization. Here my father toiled late and early for his family’s comfort and happiness and passed to the beyond in a good old age. Here my mother sat up late beside the little wheel and distaff, drawing the flaxen thread that became web and wool of my Sunday suit. Oh, hallowed places of my hearts fondest recollections, how shall I forget that?
All history at best is but a shadowy picture of the past, a mere skeleton, lacking the life and spirit of the present happening.
In the summer of 1821, a part of the land near Knightstown was bid off at the land sale at Brookville. Among the purchasers were the following named; Samuel Ferguson, Walter M. Carey, Abraham and Daniel Heaton, William Macy, Jacob Parkhurst, Thomas Estell, Henry Ballenger, Japhet McCrey, Samuel Goble, John Dailey, John Freeland, Ebenezer Goble, Charles Smith, Edmund Lewis, John Lewis, with nearly all of whom I had the personal pleasure of a personal acquaintance.
There were very few settelers near Knightstown prior to the sale of the land. A man by the name of Jackson had squatted at a spring a little south of Raysville on the old Indian trail leading between White Water to White River, with whom my father put up while prospecting for land in that part in 1821, about whom he felt best to be on his guard, as Jackson piloted him around in search of land with gun in hand. We have no further history of this man. He probably kept abreast of civilization for reason easily surmized.
Tradition speaks of John Dille as having squatted on the same trail, now the old State road, some two miles southwest of Knightstown, of whom William Lewis, of Knightstown, had some acquaintance in Virginia, and that he had eluded the laws of the State, taking his chances among the Indians long before any other white man located in these parts, that he had visited his father once in 1822, and afterwards we heard of him no more.
The first permanent settlers in Wayne Township were near, but not in the present site of Knightstown. Daniel and Abraham Heaton and John Lewis, on the east side of the river, Samuel Furgason, Samuel and Ebenezer Goble on the west side. Samuel Furgason seems to have platted a town at the mouth of Montgomery creek on the old State road, one mile southwest of Knightstown, which has long disappeared, and no vestige of it now remains. This place was called “West Liberty.” A compound word full of meaning to them, as it was at this time the extreme west of civilization, and which the utmost liberty of occupancy prevailed, with no one to dispute rights to land or forage. The creek was named after the brave Montgomery, who gave his life for his country’s liberty.
Aaron Maxwell and Allen Hiatt had corner lots, and sold goods to the first settlers, taking in exchange coonskins and ginseng. Mr. Cole, Mr. Winecup, James Silvers, Samuel and Waitsel M. Cary were early accessories to the village. Waitsel M. Cary, afterwards prosecutor of Knightstown, started a hatter’s shop there, which was the first in Henry County. Samuel Cary built a sawmill on the creek nearby, which was the first mill of that kind in the county. Cary was found dead in his mill, supposed to have been struck on the head by the downward motion of the saw sash.
Levi Stratton was the first blacksmith and Levi Griffith the first stonemason and bricklayer. Abraham Heaton built what was called a gristmill near the Buck creek, now the site of the White mills. This was the first mill of this kind erected in the county. I have a very vivid memory of my first trip to this mill with a two-bushel sack of corn on horseback. We had learned to divide the grain so as to balance it on the horse’s back and not use a stone in one end of the sack and grain in the other. John Anderson (afterward judge) dug the Heaton millrace, and received as compensation eighty acres of land, platted a town on it and called it after Governor Ray—Raysville. Edmund Lewis, Japhet McRay. William Hatton, William Colgan, James Fort, Charles Smith and Henry Conklin formed a settlement north of Knightstown along Montgomery creek. Jacob Parkhurst, Ebenezer Goble, Mr. Wilson and Mathew McKinnie formed another settlement north along Blue River. These settlements were in 1821, 1822 and 1823.
The first surveys of the “Cumberland Road” were made in 1827, and went one-half mile north of where Knightstown now is relative to Indianapolis, where it was finally located.
Waitsel M. Cary entered the land where Knightstown is situated, and was proprietor of the place. Waitsel M. Cary with others, brushed out a road going west, crossing Blue River near where the railroad bridge is, thence angling up the Blue river bluff to where Main Street now is. Mr. Cary erected a rude building and began entertaining travelers, and enjoyed a monopoly of the business for many years. Mr. Cary was a man of solid, sober demeanor. He and his family of seven children made a marked impression on the character of the coming city.
Levi Griffith and Isaac James were first in the dry goods business. Allen Hiatt and B. Cole were also merchants quite early in the same business. Robert Woods came to Knightstown in 1829 and turned his hand to many kinds of business, amassing quite a fortune. John H. Bales started a saddler’s shop in 1830 and made the first saddle in the county, which is still in existence.
Dr. Joseph M. Whitesell of Liberty came in 1830 and practiced medicine more than fifty years in the community. He was a faithful physician during the cholera plague of 1833, which was the most severe affliction that ever came upon this place. Well do I remember the terror that took hold of this place and community. Many fled the town, leaving everything behind. My father’s house was filled with his fugitive children giving us great apprehension of bringing the plague, as we called it.
Robert Butler was a doctor of great promise in Knightstown’s early history, but death’s shaft struck him in the opening of life, lamented by all. Harvey Bell had the first hardware store on the corner nearest the river, which is no longer a business point. Humphrey Dillon was a marked hotelkeeper in its early history. James Wood was the most successful merchant, and rose to be the wealthiest man in the county in his day. Issac James, Wm. and Elijah Ballenger were prominent merchants. Alfred M. Brittam was the first pork packer, and failed on pork that he paid $1.50 per hundred for, net, being slaughtered in the country and delivered to him.
The Presbyterian and Methodist were the first in the religious work. I remember the Methodist camp meetings just south of the village, how a storm came upon it one night and blew much timber upon the tents and wagons, but strange to say, no one was hurt. God’s hand seemed to control the falling timber.
Of the erratic and eccentric characters in those days I may mention Green McCall and Alexander Paston, blessed by nature with more than ordinary talent.
There were many encounters on election days, as many early settlers imbibed freely, one of which has passed into history between Joseph Kellur and Isaac Davis, lasting nearly a quarter of an hour with no satisfactory close. The men of renown in those days were those of physical powers either in battle or labor. Mark Coon, a tall, sunny Virginian, stood as number one as a grain cradler, and was very near up to our modern harvesters, at least I have followed him as a binder when he cut an acre of wheat to the hour. Many envied him for his reputation.
The Byrkit settlement two miles north of Raysville was nearly all of one connection, so peculiar in character that no pen can give just picture of it, and could only be appreciated by having been seen. Orr Scovell, A. M. Brittain and Henry Ballenger were included in this settlement. Scovell was taken captive when a lad, at the Wyoming massacre, the horrid scenes of which I have heard him relate. He almost answered to the poet’s Gertrude.
Henry Ballenger saw the Guilford battle for our independence in 1780 between Green and Cornwallis, the story of which he often related. What a span of history father and son have grasped. It seems more like fiction than reality.
