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: