While governments are not known for their humor, sometimes their actions can be pretty funny. For example, when the Indiana General Assembly met in Corydon for its Sixth Session in December 1821 to conduct the serious business of enacting laws for the state, a bill creating Marion County passed and was approved by Gov. Jonathan Jennings on December 31 with the provision that it would take effect on April 1, 1822 – April Fool’s Day. Maybe the lawmakers of the day made this provision in case they had second thoughts.
Carved out of a portion of the central Indiana territory ceded by the Miami and Delaware (Lenape) to the United States in the fall of 1818 by the Treaty of St. Mary, the section of the “New Purchase” that would become Marion County was a land of dense forests and marshy grounds. Within months of the treaty’s signing, Ute Perkins, a basket maker, made his way along a trail that later would become Brookville Rd., stopping briefly at the Delaware village beside Buck Creek before continuing his journey to some high ground by a stream that would become known as Pogue’s Run. Perkins built a log cabin and remained in the area long enough to be recorded in the August 1820 federal census, but not liking life in the dark woods with the howl of the wolf and roar of the panther, he soon left.
John McCormick and George Pogue soon followed in Perkins’ path. As to who arrived first after Perkins is still a matter of contention. Pogue, a blacksmith, built a double log cabin near Perkins on the south-east bank of the creek that bears his name near where it crosses Michigan St. today. In April 1821, Pogue left his family at their cabin and went in search of some missing horses. He was never seen again and was presumed to have met with foul play. McCormick arrived at the confluence of White River and Fall Creek on February 26, 1820 and built his cabin the same day and opened the first tavern in the area. The site of the McCormick cabin is marked today with a bronze tablet imbedded in a large boulder near the old Washington St. bridge.
Others, anxious to stake a claim in the new territory, with “its profusion of game, its fertility, and its abundance of excellent building timber,” quickly followed in the spring of 1820. When the commissioners appointed to select a site for the new state capital met at the McCormick cabin in June 1820, there were at least fifteen families living in the vicinity, many along the banks of White River and Fall Creek. Among them were John Maxwell and John Cowan who settled “on the high ground” along Fall Creek “very near the site” of the former Wishard Hospital; Robert Harding and his brothers Samuel, Eliakim, Israel, and Laban who came with their widowed mother and built cabins near McCormick; and Isaac Wilson, who built a double cabin on what is now the northwest corner of the State House grounds. The Wilson cabin was “the first house of any kind built on the original town plat” of Indianapolis. Scattered away from the White River-Fall Creek settlement, other intrepid settlers erected cabins in the wilderness.
The vast area of the New Purchase, now named Delaware County, would not be completely surveyed until the fall of 1820 and its lands offered for sale until 1821. Those living in the county when John Maxwell took the census in August 1820 were therefore squatters. He recorded 327 households with 1,348 persons, including 3 free African-American men, living in the district with most of the squatters concentrated in the central part of the county. Among those living within the boundaries of the future Marion County were Joseph Beeler, William Rector, James Harman, Peter Harmonson, Henry Riddle, Henry Cruse, and Martin McCoy. Beeler settled on the west side of White River near the bluffs and would serve as Decatur Township justice of the peace for many years. Rector came to the future Franklin Township and built his cabin along the banks of Buck Creek while Harman settled in on the east bank of Eagle Creek in the future Pike Township. Cruse and McCoy were among the early settlers in the area that would become Washington Township while Riddle and Harmonson built their cabins along either side of Buck Creek near present day Bluff Rd. Harmonson would serve as the first justice of the peace for Perry Township.
During the fall and winter of 1820-21, additional settlers came into the future lands of Marion County. These included John Stephens, David Johnson, Isaac Cool, Hiram Bacon, Harris Tyner, Martin D. Bush, and John Graham who built their cabins in the outlying areas. Others like Matthias R. Nowland, merchant Daniel Shaffer, and tailor Andrew Byrne settled on the land that would become Indianapolis. Surveyor Alexander Ralston, who had been selected to plat Indianapolis, began his work in April 1821. He was accompanied by his African-American housekeeper, Chaney Lively. Dr. Samuel G. Mitchell also arrived at this time with an African-American boy named Ephraim Ensaw.
The government lands in Delaware County (New Purchase) went on sale in the first part of 1821, and by July most of the “squatters” had become land holders. Ralston completed his survey and the first sale of lots were auctioned off on Monday, October 8, 1821 at the Matthias Nowland tavern under the supervision of Gen. John Carr, the land agent appointed by the state. The first lot sold (lot 3, square 70 – 401 W. Washington St, current site of Indiana state parking garage) went to Jesse McKay for $152.75 (2020: $3,012), but because the weather was “cold and raw with a high wind” additional sales were postponed until the next day. When the sale concluded the following Saturday, 314 lots had been sold for a total of $7,119.25 (2020: $140,378).
The organization of Marion County began with the appointment of William W. Wick as judge and Harvey Bates as sheriff. Both assumed office in February 1822 and an election was held on April 3 to fill the other offices. Those elected were James McIlvaine and Eliakim Harding, associate judges; James M. Ray, clerk; Joseph C. Reed, recorder; John McCormick, John T. Osborn and William McCartney, county commissioners. Court sessions were held at Gen. Carr’s cabin until a courthouse was built.
To commemorate the bicentennial of Marion County, the Genealogical Society of Marion County (GSMC) has created a First Families lineage group. To qualify an individual must prove a direct lineage line back to a resident of Marion County on or prior to June 1, 1850, the date of the United States federal census. As of December 2021, five descendants have been recognized. Many of the early settlers of Marion County are profiled in Early Reminiscences of Indianapolis (1870) by John Nowland. Also, Berry Sulgrove included extensive information on the county’s first residents in his History of Indianapolis and Marion County (1884). Those interested in this lineage group should contact the GSMC at info@genealogyindy.org.
