Settlement of Worthington and Old Point
Commerce
The region which now embraces Greene County, Indiana, was once
the home of the Piankeshaw Indians, a tribe which belonged to
the Miami federation. In about the year 1767 the Piankeshaw made
a treaty with the Delaware Indians who thereby gained certain
privileges, although actual possession was not relinquished by
the former tribe.
About the beginning of the nineteenth century the fertile lands
of this region began to attract the white man. Prior to that
time the only pale faces who had visited this region were
explorers and trappers who passed up and down White River in
canoes at intervals. Among these first visitors were the Jesuit
missionaries, who were always well received among the Indians.
It was about the year 1805 or 1806 that the first white men
began to visit this territory with a view of forming
settlements. They came from Vincennes which had been established
about 100 years and was known as the "Old Post."
The exploring parties from Vincennes had carried home favorable
reports of the fertility of the lands lying along White river
and our own meandering Eel River. These explorers came in
pirogues or canoes, by the river route, that being the only line
of travel except the Indian trails through the forests.
Consequently the first settlements were formed along the rivers.
Much of the adjacent territory being wet and marshy, elevated
localities were chosen as sites for settlements.
The bold bluff, later known as Point Commerce, had long
attracted the eye of the voyagers and explorers, and as a result
one of the first settlements in what is now Greene County was
formed on that elevation. It is known that a settlement was
formed there as early as 1812. In a few years considerable of a
settlement had been established and clearings cut in the forest
in that locality.
Early Settlers
Edmond Jean
Edward Dyer
Samuel Dyer
Richard Wall
Thomas Smith
George Griffith
John Sanders
Caleb Jessup
James Stalcup
Thomas Stalcup
John Jessup |
Jonathan Osborn
Eli Dickson
Thomas Clark
William Winters
Hiram Hicks
John Craig
John Stanley
Benjamin Shoemaker
William Lemons
Joab Wilsher
Henry Littlejohn |
Some of these pioneers have
descendants who are among the leading families of today. They
entered land and acquired titles which have passed down to their
posterity. Cabins were built, fields were cleared and homes were
made in the forests. These settlers were hardy backwoodsmen,
long accustomed to the hardships and privations of a life in the
forests. In a few years the settlement at Point Commerce had
spread over the adjacent territory.
Their cabins grew in number, their
clearings broadened into fields and conditions improved each
year. Corn was the principal crop, but soon wheat was sown and
orchards were planted. Samuel Dyer and Richard Wall raised the
first wheat. It was threshed, or beaten out, with flails on
quilts in the door yards of the raisers.
Richard Wall, who had brought a quart
of apple seed from North Carolina, divided with his neighbors
and in time each settler had a small orchard. Cotton was raised,
spun and woven. Some raised sheep and wool was carded, spun and
woven into cloth. Everybody wore homespun and handmade garments
in those days.
By the resistless encroachment of the
pale faces the Red Men had been pushed back before a settlement
was ever formed in this region; consequently the pioneers were
in no danger of Indian massacre. The war-whoop, the tomahawk and
the scalping knife had lost their terror and the block house was
not a necessity in Greene County.
Yet the pioneers remembered the
sufferings and the dangers of what they called "early days" in
other places. From such dangers the first settlers of this
region were exempt. Yet their hardships and privations were
great. They were the advance guard which blazed the way for the
civilization which we enjoy and to them we owe a debt of
gratitude we can never pay. Let us perpetuate their memory.
This is one of our purposes in
publishing this brief history.
An absorbing interest, which excels
the most thrilling romance, permeates the story of the pioneers
who first hewed homes out of the forests.
Volumes have been written about the
adventures, dangers and hardships of the forerunners of
civilization, who enacted the first chapter in the wonderful
drama which transformed a wilderness into a populous land of
culture and advancement, yet the most facile pen, the most
gifted tongue and the deepest research fail to exhaust the
subject or to do full justice to the brave men and women who
were the links in the chain of history which trans-formed the
wilderness.
Before the old town of Point
Commerce, at the rivers' junction, was started, a settlement had
been formed in that locality and was slowly spreading over the
adjacent territory. The cabins had steadily increased in number
and grown in dimensions, year by year. Log houses were the only
homes outside the village, for a full generation.
The people were happy and contented
amid their primitive surroundings. The first settlers had each
"entered" a large tract of land, and, consequently, the cabins
and clearings were widely separated. One's nearest neighbor
often lived three miles away. Yet they visited and mingled in a
very neighborly way.
Neighbors exchanged visits in cordial
hospitality. Often the whole family went and spent a day with a
neighbor, perhaps several miles away. "Come, bring your knitting
and the children and stay all day," was the common form of
invitation for the women; while "our latch-string hangs out"
meant that a hospitable welcome awaited the guest.
Ox teams did all heavy hauling and
sleds were used instead of wagons. A carriage was seldom seen in
those days. To possess a family carriage would have been
considered positive evidence of great wealth. The wagons had
wooden axles and linchpins.
Social gatherings were not overlooked
in early days. The neighbors held corn huskings, apple cuttings,
and frolics, at which both old and young assembled. While the
young folks danced, to the stirring strains of the fiddle, the
old folks looked on in admiration and talked their homely
matters over, in mutual exchange.
People rode horseback, or walked to
church, parties or other places. To own a horse, saddle and
bridle was the ambition of every young man. When a beau desired
to accompany his sweetheart home from church, or to escort her
to a dance, she rode behind him on, horseback. Often jolly
crowds of young folks enjoyed a ride on big bob-sleds in winter
when the snow was deep.
Index

Source: Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XII March, 1916 No. 1,
Settlement of Worthington and Old Point Commerce, by Robert
Weems, 1916

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