First Family Non History

With the Madison Bicentennial having some residents interested in documenting their descent from "First Families", it's always useful to to talk about what's history and what is serious error. And there's a lot of the latter, particularly in the information about Revolutionary War soldiers that was published in the 1930s.

One of the most glaring examples was the DAR's decision to admit Johnston/Johnson Brown of Jefferson and Switzerland County, who, it was claimed died in 1869 at 109 and was supposedly squirrel shooting at age 100. Researchers Al and Margaret Spiry demolished this--suggesting the old man was simply a good story teller. Johnson's father signed to given him permission to marry in 1795 in Nelson County, Ky., meaning he wasn't 21 years old. Do the math.

There are some other great tales. The DAR has Ralph Griffin as having died in July 1838 and buried at Springdale Cemetery. However, the Jefferson County Probate records show he died on Sept. 13, 1838 at the hosue of John Rogers (his grandson-in-law and executor) in Switzerland County. Since Rogers lived near Pleasant, and since Rogers and Ralph's wife Catherine and son David Griffin are buried at Brushy Fork Baptist Church, it's more likely his unmarked grave is there. By the way, the newspaper article about the burial said simply that a Mr. Griffin was buried in July 1838 (and Springdale was established in 1839.)

Then there was George Buchanan, whose family established Buchanan's Station, the blockhouse on the Jefferson County-Ripley County line, in 1813 according to the DAR, in 1812, according to a contemporary account.

George lived 1721-1818 according to the DAR's records; lived to be more than 100, according a newspaper article of the reminiscences of his grandson George W. in 1910, or died in 1815, according to a stone that now stands in the Buchanan family cemetery opposite the replica of the blockhouse. (It was probably moved there about 1985 from the McLaughlin Cemetery)

Many individuals have been admitted to the DAR and SAR based on the Pennsylvania Archives that show George Buchanan served from 1777 through 1781 in the Fourth Pennsylvania Continental line. The problem is, the record does not say which George Buchanan, and there are plenty to choose from in that place and time.

Now, U.S. records show that in 1786 Ezekiel and Elizabeth Buchanan, no relationship given, were paid for services of George Buchanan in the Fourth in Pennsylvania. They were paid with interest accruing from Jan. 1, 1781, which suggests the service ended on that date. The only conceivable reason someone other than the solider would be paid is that the solider, George Buchanan, had died by 1786.

Then there is Gerardus Ryker, who the DAR was Gerardus was an ensign in Col. Theunis Day's Bergen Co. Regiment, New Jersey Militia and was also an ensign in the Battalion of Major Mauritious Goetschius, New Jersey State Troops, serving extending from 1776 to 1781.
Ryker, however, moved to modern West Virginia in 1778, then to Kentucky in 1779 and was killed by Indians in that state in 1781. Based on my suggestion this didn't make since, Lynn Rogers of Dayton, Ohio, pursued this conflict and believes the Gerardus in New Jersey was a relative of the same name.

Our final problem is Samuel Welch. The DAR put a stone at his family plot on Scott's Ridge, Shelby Township, commemorating his Revolutionary service in Springer's Legion. Unfortuantely, Springer's unit served in the Indian Wars after the Revolution was over. In fact, the DAR started rejecting applicants because Samuel's initial pension application was rejected because of this fact. However, when he resubmitted his claim, it was approved. Either Samuel served as a teenager, or he was a complete liar--take your pick

Samuel's Revolutionary War pension application says that enlisted in Cumberland County, Pa., in September 1776 at age fourteen for two months as a drummer in Capt. John Campbell's company for two months. Unfortunately, his tombstone inscription said he died on Dec. 30, 1842 at the age of 75. His family Bible, published in 1811, also appears to say he was born in 1811. However, there is a tear and a smudge at the date (I own the Bible). Since this entry was clearly made decades after his birth, it suggests the date was entered incorrectly and someone tried to erase, tearing the paper. I buy the idea he was born in 1763 or so, regardless of what the Bible and tombstone say.

Then, there's the question of his wife's maiden name. The book, "Welch and Allied Families," which was printed in 1932, carried a transcribed letter from Knox Jamison, that had been written in 1924. Jamison wrote that he checked Samuel's Bible (the one I own and that was passed down along with his farm in my family), and gave Samuel's marriage to Jane Cunningham in 1797. The Welch Book author created a nice family tree for Jane that many descendants have elaborated on, listing her parents as a John Cunningam and Ann Sinclair, who lived in Massachusetts.

There are two probems with this. The first is that some Cunningham researchers show this couple's daughter Jane, who married a Samuel Welch, died in Massachusetts. The second problem is that's not what the Bible says, and the author who transcribed Jamison's letter simply got it wrong.

The Bible shows her name as Jane Cumming (it actually looks more like Cunning, but I think that's an issue of handwriting.) There's another family Bible, one that Samuel reportedly carried with him as a soldier, that shows her name as Cummins or Cummings (the last letters are blurry.)

And this are merely lines I have investigated well. Imagine the possibilities!

China, Indiana, as a Center of Missionary Activity

It never was a big place, even in the old days. And in the early 1830s, the newly named China, Ind., (calling it a town is a bit of a stretch), was the base of missionary activity for two Presbyterian ministers.

In the 1820s, there was a bit more to China, if defined as extending from where Dry Fork meets the West Fork of the Indian-Kentuck, upstream to the site of the former St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church. There was a fulling mill that opened in 1817 (lifespan unknown), and the China Paper Mill that started by 1830 and which lasted until 1860. When James Hill sold his property at China to James Siddell in 1836, the deed listed a gristmill, sawmill, tanning shop, storehouse, dwelling house, barn, stables, and water rights as part of the sale.

And starting in 1831, there was a church, alternately called Center and Central Presbyterian. Land for a church site, on the northeast side of the Dry Fork-Indian-Kentuck confluence was sold to church trustees in 1833. Since the congregation lasted until about 1850, there probably was a church building, although no direct references to a building have been found. This was probably what drew two ministers, the Rev. John Parsons, who spent more of his time with the shorter-lived Ryker's Ridge Presbyterian Church, and the Rev. Moses Wilder, who preached at China at least one year.

Wilder, the corresponding secretary for the local chapter of the American Tract Society, reached Madison in 1831, and was at China in 1833, where he became postmaster on Jan. 30 that year. A series of short letters by Wilder, published in the American Home Missionary and Pastor's Journal in 1833, bear the China address. He both bemoaned the state of education and religion in Indiana while bragging about his own work. That year he toured much of Indiana and detailed what he saw as tremendous distances between existing churches. And while still living at China, he was serving as minister at the Bethlehem, Ind., Presbyterian Church.

Parsons despaired the general condition of the area and wrote in February 1833 to the magazine's editor Absolom Peters that "Aside from Br. Wilder and myself, there is not a literary man of an sort in the bounds. There is not a scholar or grammar or geography or teacher capable of instructing in them, to my knowledge"

But Wilder went on to other duties. He moved to Franklin County, Ind., by October 17, 1837, when he sold his land at China to James Morgan. And in a few years, German Catholic families would arrive to give the area a much different flavor.

A History of Jefferson County's Townships.

For most of its history, ten townships comprised Jefferson County. But during the first two decades of its existence, the county looked much different, not only because it covered more territory, but because townships were created and destroyed.

The original Madison Township was part of Clark County, from which Jefferson was created and when the Jefferson County Common Pleas Court, which handled virtually all county governmental functions, began its work on Feb. 11, 1811, it kept the name of Madison for one of the three townships it created.

The other two were Washington Township and Jefferson Township. Jefferson, with some alterations in its boundaries, became part of Switzerland County when that entity was created in 1814. It initially extended west to the Indian (Greenville) Treat line that runs diagonally to the Northeast from roughly Lamb on the Ohio River.

Washington Township was more extensive. Court records describe it as including all of the residents of the township below the west line of Madison Township., which was a line from the River starting at on the west line of Section 6 Twp. 3N Range 10E. That included all of modern Graham, Hanover, Lancaster, Saluda, Smyrna, and Republican Townships. It also included the western tiers of sections in what is now Monroe Township. (The sections bordering Lancaster); modern Smyrna Township, and the three sections of Madison Township that border the northern boundary of Hanover Township. (a panhandle.) Since Jefferson County included all of the Grouseland purchase, it meant Washington also included Scott County and parts of Jennings and Jackson Counties.

Sandwiched between Washington and Jefferson Township, Madison Township extended east to the treaty line. Since it extended north to the Grouseland purchase boundary, it also encompassed most of Ripley and Jennings counties. Within modern Jefferson County, it was comprised by modern Shelby and Milton Townships, and most of Madison and Monroe Townships, and initially the part of modern Switzerland County between the Treaty line and the modern county border.

The creation of Jennings County in 1816, probably triggered the actions that the Jefferson County Court took next. It created Graham Township on Feb. 10, 1817, which encompassed the west part of the modern county, except for areas that became Lexington and Saluda Townships on February 13; Lancaster Township, laid off on March 5, also included modern Monroe Township.

On March 12, the court created Pittsburgh Township, which took in a roughly triangular piece of modern Milton Township that was bordered on the southwest by the Indian-Kentuck, starting about the site of Manville. The southern part of Milton Township remained in Madison Township. Republican Township was created the same day. Washington Township disappeared as a result of these actions.

Milton Township, taken from Madison and Pittsburgh Townships on May 12, 1818, included modern Shelby Township running from an east-west line between sections 33 and 33 Twp. 4N Range 11E to the Switzerland County border, leaving a remnant of Pittsburgh that was wiped by 1822 by the creation of Shelby Township.

Another vanished township, Edinburgh, is a mystery. There is no reference to its creation or dissolution in county records. The first reference to Edinburgh came on May 6, 1817 when David Talbott was paid for services as an election inspector; Robert Mitchell as an election judge for both Edinburgh and Pittsburgh Townships, Peter Ryker as an election clerk, Samuel Caplinger as judge, John Littlejohn, James Wooley and James Christie as clerks. These men all lived in the Canaan and Barbersville areas. It may have taken in northern Shelby Township, along with Ripley County. It's possible it was destroyed with the creation of Ripley County in 1819, but Jefferson County records simply stopped mentioning it.

There was some tinkering. On June 10, 1811 Jefferson Township's boundary was pushed west to the line dividing Ranges 11 and 12, taking in parts of modern Shelby and Milton Townships. That didn't last as it was pushed back to the current Jefferson/Switzerland County line, but another change did. The court moved Madison Township's boundary about one mile west. Instead of running along the section lines for the corner of the southeast corner of Section 31 Twp. 4N Range 10E, it then ran along the boundary between Ranges 9 and 10E.

The only other boundary chanrges included one that took Paris from Graham Township and made it part of Jennings County, legendarily because it was trouble and was closer to the sheriff at Vernon than at Madison. And the border between Graham Township and Scott County was pushed slightly east. Both measures were approved by the Indiana General Assembly in January 18330. 

The youngest townships were created over an 11 year period--Hanover in September 1836, Monroe on March 11, 1842 and Smyrna on June 16, 1847.

Jefferson County’s Mormon Pioneers

No congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints was successfully established in Jefferson County until the 1960s. But it wasn’t for lack of trying.

It might be better to say no long-lasting congregation was established because there were efforts from very early in the history of the Mormon Church and these continued throughout the 1800s.The earliest record the church reports is the trip by two ministers, Reynolds Cahoon and Samuel Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, who set out for Missouri in June 1831. Along the way, they stopped in Kentucky and preached in Madison, Vienna and Unionville, although no details were given about these appearances.

Next, in the winter of 1832/33, Simeon Carter organized an L.D.S. branch in Hanover, which had 27 members, according to the April 1833 edition of the Evening and Morning Star, a Mormon publication. But no further record of that effort has been found. After that, there is a gap of 20 years of reported church activity in Jefferson County. At a conference in Nauvoo, Ill., held on April 6, 1843, Joshua Holman and John Pierce were appointed as missionaries of Madison. Holman died in 1849, having returned to Nauvoo, and Pierce was not listed in the 18500 Jefferson County census.

What happened next is unclear with only hints given about Mormon activity from records of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints. (They did not call themselves Mormon and the denomination changed its name to Community of Christ in 2000.) At some point a Swiss immigrant, Louis Van Buren of Manville had become an L.D.S. member. This is known because by 1861, he had joined the reorganized church whose Saints Herald said Van Buren had visited the denomination’s headquarters in Lamoni, Iowa. It reported that “Elder Louis Van Buren, of Manville, Jefferson county, Ind., tarried in this city several days. He is a believer in the New Organization, and I am informed that he was an elder in the Old Organization. He is on his way to Switzerland, his native land, and expects to return next summer.”

The presence of Mormons probably drew the Reorganized Church into Jefferson County for organizing efforts that began in the 1870s with much greater success than the Mormons had achieved.

An 1878 letter by the Rev. James Scott, who spearheaded this activity along with his brother the Rev. John Scott, mentioned that, “There are a great many more of the old saints throughout the county,” but gave no other details. Few of these are known, including, the Rev. William Marshall is known, as a Madison newspaper account said he had been a Mormon, and had been excommunicated by the R.L.D.S. because he believe in polygamy. (In the twentieth century, he was a Baptist and preached at the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Shelby Township.)

The Scotts began their evangelizing by Dec. 7, 1872 when James wrote he had procured a house of preaching. This was probably at Wirt where on June 27, 1873, following 20 days of meetings held by the Scotts, four Madisonians joined the Union Branch which met at the Union School House two and a half miles from Wirt. These included “Brother Woodburn and his wife” who were described as members of the old church. On July 2, 1873, the Daily Courier reported Union Branch had 26 members. James Scott’s 1878 account said the branch began with 10 members under elder Samuel Rector and minister (called a priest) William Blair. By March, 10, 1876, Union had 33 members. By 1883, it was reportedly considering purchase of the Christian Church building in Lancaster. Whatever it did, Union Branch moved into its old building by Nov. 9, 1884, when the Saints Herald reported its church building had been dedicated. This was probably the one building reported for the denomination in Jefferson County by the 1890 census.

There were also attempts to found a congregation in Madison. The May 15, 1873 Saints Herald, noted that Elders were wanted at Madison. On July 25, Elder Scott and Elder B.V. Springer conducted a service at the hall of the Washington Fire Co. in Madison that drew 50 people. But no congregation formed. Meanwhile, Springer had luck elsewhere. The Madison Courier of Feb. 4, 1874 mentioned that Elder Springer of Kansas had become the settled pastor of the Mormons of Smyrna Township. The congregation gave him ten acres of land and was building a house for him.

While no other records of the Smyrna congregation have been found, more is known about the Mt. Pleasant Branch, which met on the Milton Township of Hall’s Ridge. It was organized on Oct. 13, 1879 with 22 members and conferences of the Reorganized church’s Southern Indiana District were held on Nov. 20, 1879 and March 5, 1881. Since the R.L.D.S. had only one structure in the county in 1890, Mt. Pleasant probably did not have its own building until after the congregation purchased land in 1894. But the church did not last long and in 1904, the property was soon and the new own demolished the building.

By 1900, the L.D.S. itself was ready for one for effort in Jefferson County. Madison’s 1900 census showed Hugh Harvey, Jessie Pay, Isaac Zundel, and Erick Larsen boarding at 204 East Street. All four, born in Utah, had the same occupation “preaching.” They probably returned to their homes after their missionary service and there was no Mormon congregation in Madison until 1967.