Some Early Settlers of Newton County Indiana 1831-1859

Before the time when railroads began to open new territory for settlement, it generally took three classes of citizens to open up and develop a country. The first class was made up of what might he called squatters — they were the adventurous frontiersmen who came before any lands were regularly offered for sale. They lived by hunting, fishing and trapping, and moved on farther west when the second class came in and purchased the land from the government at the uniform price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. This second class generally held on to their land for a few years, making, as they supposed, a good, big profit on their investment, when they would sell out to the third class, who would put up permanent improvements and become the fixed residents of the country.

About the time I arrived in Newton county, this region was beginning to fill up with the settlers who were to become permanent residents and carry forward the work of development and improvement.

The following is a list of names, as they come to me, of persons who were living in this territory prior to its organization as Newton county, in 1860, with the date of the arrival of each:

John Lyons1831
Aaron Lyons1832
Joshua Timmons1835
Jacob Kenoyer1834
John Myers, Sr.1836
Henry Rider1836
Ransom Elijah1836
Philip Earl1837
John Murphy1838
Otey Anderson1838
Zechariah Spitler1838
Amos White1839
Daniel Mock1839
Samuel Lyons1840
Thomas R. Barker1842
John S. Roberts1843
Daniel Deardufif1844
Benjamin Roadruck1844
Thomas Starkey1844
John Whiteakker1847
Thomas Peck1847
Jacob Ash1842
Dempsey Johnson1848
Andrew Doty1849
Ephraim Bridgeman1846
Levi Bridgeman1846
Silas Johnson1846
Washington Dearduff1844
Robert Archibald1846
William Archibald1850
W. C. Lester1850
Joseph Chizum1850
David Pulver1850
William R. Handley1850
James Dodson1850
Charles Frankenberger1851
Joseph Staton1851
Daniel Ash1851
John Darroch1851
James Kay1851
Edgar Hawkins1852
James Martin1852
Isaac V. Speck1852
David Creek1852
John Franklin1852
John Padgett1852
A. W. Bebout1852
John Smart1852
Morris Lyons1852
David Hess1853
A. V. Card1853
Joseph Law1853
Young Thompson1853
Joseph Kennedy1853
Joshua Ponsler1854
James Archibald1854
Christian Jessen1854
Philip Brown1854
Andrew Hess1855
George M. Herriman1855
Ezra B. Jones1855
Amos Clark1855
Thomas Griffith1855
Charles T. Triplett1856
Jacob Brenner1836
James Pierce1836
George W. White1836
Bluford Light1836
William Russell1836
William Littlejohn1856
John F. Johnson1857
C. A. Wood1857
William Best1857
A. J. Kent1858
Abel Thompson1859

Source

Ade, John. Newton County: a collection of historical facts and personal recollections concerning Newton County, Indiana, from 1853 to 1911. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., c1911.

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