Post by reeb on May 3, 2008 22:44:46 GMT -5
Surfing around and I found some interesting stuff about Indians in Madison County from this page
www.cemeteries-madison-co-in.com/native%20americans.htm
"According to mid 20th century MCCC archives, a Native American burial ground once existed in the middle of what is now Florida Station, specifically between the railroad and CR 375N on the east side of CR 200W. This location would place the burial ground at the only crossroads of the small hamlet. While there exists no written record of this burial site's location or even existence, sometimes the stories and remembrances handed down in families, or in this case to historians, are the only pieces left of a site's or people's history. Evidently, at some point in the early or middle part of the previous century, a Madison County Historical Society member was told by a knowledgeable and reliable source that local "Indians" once used this spot to bury their dead. Perhaps the story developed when the railroad was being constructed, since it is next to the site, or when the last Native Americans in Madison County migrated west in the 1830s or when Florida Station was being planned and built. Maybe the station's designers did not want to desecrate hallowed ground. The burial site does not have any buildings on it but appears to be the side yards of houses built along CR 375N. However the story was handed down, the MCHS, at the time, regarded the folk history with respect and recorded the burial ground's location for future reference. "
I live in Florida Indiana actually My house was one of the 1st built here. The deed says 1832 or 1834. It shows where most of the surrounding land was sold, to who, how much....
Gonna be checking out some of the small woods between the fields around here. I have found points (arrowheads) in my flowerbeds when I pull weeds but I never knew anything about a burial site.
and I have drove by this place going to New Castle. I always wondered what the story was and now I know...
"A pivotal event that defines the character of our early settlers occurred in 1824. In February of that year, two families of peaceful Native Americans were camped, hunting and trapping for furs, along Lick Creek about one mile northeast of Markleville in Adams Township. They had been very successful in their pursuits and had obtained a large quantity of pelts. Living in the same area with families were John T. Bridge, his son John Bridge, Andrew Sawyer, James Hudson, and Thomas Harper, hunters and trappers themselves. The white men saw what they thought was an easy way of gaining valuable furs. They worked out a plan to deceive the quiet Native Americans and in the process of carrying out their scheme brutally killed all of them-- two men, three women, and four children under the age of ten, two boys and two girls. Bridge and company then mutilated some of the bodies and looted the camp of any valuables.
The bodies of the Native Americans were discovered the next day by white settlers on their way to a religious meeting at the home of Peter Jones. The news of the atrocity spread, and bands of the white settlers pursued the culprits. All of the suspects were caught and jailed except for Thomas Harper who escaped to Ohio and was never seen again in the territory. The four remaining suspects--Bridge, his nineteen year old son, Sawyer, and Hudson--were held for murder, tried by a jury of their pioneer peers, and sentenced to die by hanging. As John Forkner put it in his 1914 history of the county, "This was the first time, and is perhaps the only instance in the history of American jurisprudence, where white men were legally executed for the killing of Indians." (For more on this pivotal, historic event, go to the Madison County history page.)"
Strawtown might be an interesting place to nib around too.
Benjamin Fisher was a veteran of the War of 1812. Benjamin has the distinction of being one of the few white settlers actually killed by the Native Americans remaining in the area. An article titled "Early Settlers" from an unidentified Lapel newspaper published in October 1903 tells of the family's migration to Stony Creek and the events which brought about Benjamin's death:
"Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Fisher, from Clermont County, Ohio, in June of 1820...in a wagon came to Indiana. They drove through Winchester to Anderson, Indiana, the latter place being then merely an Indian Village, with no white people living there. The old chief Anderson, for whom the town was named, was living there at the time.
"They drove down the river...between Perkinsville and Strawtown and there settled in a round log cabin 16 feet square, in which was no floor but the dirt.
"In Strawtown...was one white family named Shintapper. This man kept liquor to sell to the Indians and when they bought the liquor and got drunk Shintapper would abuse them. He had a great fireplace in which logs six feet long could be burned and he once threw an Indian on this fire where he was burned to death. At another time he burned one until he was crippled afterwards.
"By such treatment the Indians were justly incensed and determined to be revenged and so ten of them went one day armed with their knives and tomahawks, intending to kill Shintapper when no one was about.
"That same day--in March, 1821--Benjamin Fisher, John Colip, and Jacob Hiers happened to go to Shintappers to grind their axes, he being the only one in that settlement who owned a grindstone. They had not been there long before the Indians arrived. Of course they could not stand by and see Shintapper killed so undertook to defend him.
"There was a five-rail fence around the cabin, outside of which were the Indians and inside were the white men. ... The battle then continued as at first, the red men retreating and the white men chasing them, then in turn being chased back. Finally one Indian hit Shintapper with a club and knocked him down, then jumped on the fence to get inside. At this Hiers struck the Indian on the head and killed him...Then the battle waged fiercer than ever. But when retreating from the Indians Benjamin Fisher fell and was at once tomahawked by the Indians, who then gathered up their dead Indians and went away. Mr. Fisher was not scalped as some accounts have stated but from the pieces of skull (now in possession of [son] Charles Fisher) it is evidenced that he was truck several times with the tomahawk.
"That same night Shintapper loaded his goods in a canoe and with his wife and child went down White River and was never heard of again. Benjamin Fisher was buried at Strawtown near where he was killed. His was the first grave in what is now known as Strawtown Cemetery."
www.cemeteries-madison-co-in.com/native%20americans.htm
"According to mid 20th century MCCC archives, a Native American burial ground once existed in the middle of what is now Florida Station, specifically between the railroad and CR 375N on the east side of CR 200W. This location would place the burial ground at the only crossroads of the small hamlet. While there exists no written record of this burial site's location or even existence, sometimes the stories and remembrances handed down in families, or in this case to historians, are the only pieces left of a site's or people's history. Evidently, at some point in the early or middle part of the previous century, a Madison County Historical Society member was told by a knowledgeable and reliable source that local "Indians" once used this spot to bury their dead. Perhaps the story developed when the railroad was being constructed, since it is next to the site, or when the last Native Americans in Madison County migrated west in the 1830s or when Florida Station was being planned and built. Maybe the station's designers did not want to desecrate hallowed ground. The burial site does not have any buildings on it but appears to be the side yards of houses built along CR 375N. However the story was handed down, the MCHS, at the time, regarded the folk history with respect and recorded the burial ground's location for future reference. "
I live in Florida Indiana actually My house was one of the 1st built here. The deed says 1832 or 1834. It shows where most of the surrounding land was sold, to who, how much....
Gonna be checking out some of the small woods between the fields around here. I have found points (arrowheads) in my flowerbeds when I pull weeds but I never knew anything about a burial site.
and I have drove by this place going to New Castle. I always wondered what the story was and now I know...
"A pivotal event that defines the character of our early settlers occurred in 1824. In February of that year, two families of peaceful Native Americans were camped, hunting and trapping for furs, along Lick Creek about one mile northeast of Markleville in Adams Township. They had been very successful in their pursuits and had obtained a large quantity of pelts. Living in the same area with families were John T. Bridge, his son John Bridge, Andrew Sawyer, James Hudson, and Thomas Harper, hunters and trappers themselves. The white men saw what they thought was an easy way of gaining valuable furs. They worked out a plan to deceive the quiet Native Americans and in the process of carrying out their scheme brutally killed all of them-- two men, three women, and four children under the age of ten, two boys and two girls. Bridge and company then mutilated some of the bodies and looted the camp of any valuables.
The bodies of the Native Americans were discovered the next day by white settlers on their way to a religious meeting at the home of Peter Jones. The news of the atrocity spread, and bands of the white settlers pursued the culprits. All of the suspects were caught and jailed except for Thomas Harper who escaped to Ohio and was never seen again in the territory. The four remaining suspects--Bridge, his nineteen year old son, Sawyer, and Hudson--were held for murder, tried by a jury of their pioneer peers, and sentenced to die by hanging. As John Forkner put it in his 1914 history of the county, "This was the first time, and is perhaps the only instance in the history of American jurisprudence, where white men were legally executed for the killing of Indians." (For more on this pivotal, historic event, go to the Madison County history page.)"
Strawtown might be an interesting place to nib around too.
Benjamin Fisher was a veteran of the War of 1812. Benjamin has the distinction of being one of the few white settlers actually killed by the Native Americans remaining in the area. An article titled "Early Settlers" from an unidentified Lapel newspaper published in October 1903 tells of the family's migration to Stony Creek and the events which brought about Benjamin's death:
"Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Fisher, from Clermont County, Ohio, in June of 1820...in a wagon came to Indiana. They drove through Winchester to Anderson, Indiana, the latter place being then merely an Indian Village, with no white people living there. The old chief Anderson, for whom the town was named, was living there at the time.
"They drove down the river...between Perkinsville and Strawtown and there settled in a round log cabin 16 feet square, in which was no floor but the dirt.
"In Strawtown...was one white family named Shintapper. This man kept liquor to sell to the Indians and when they bought the liquor and got drunk Shintapper would abuse them. He had a great fireplace in which logs six feet long could be burned and he once threw an Indian on this fire where he was burned to death. At another time he burned one until he was crippled afterwards.
"By such treatment the Indians were justly incensed and determined to be revenged and so ten of them went one day armed with their knives and tomahawks, intending to kill Shintapper when no one was about.
"That same day--in March, 1821--Benjamin Fisher, John Colip, and Jacob Hiers happened to go to Shintappers to grind their axes, he being the only one in that settlement who owned a grindstone. They had not been there long before the Indians arrived. Of course they could not stand by and see Shintapper killed so undertook to defend him.
"There was a five-rail fence around the cabin, outside of which were the Indians and inside were the white men. ... The battle then continued as at first, the red men retreating and the white men chasing them, then in turn being chased back. Finally one Indian hit Shintapper with a club and knocked him down, then jumped on the fence to get inside. At this Hiers struck the Indian on the head and killed him...Then the battle waged fiercer than ever. But when retreating from the Indians Benjamin Fisher fell and was at once tomahawked by the Indians, who then gathered up their dead Indians and went away. Mr. Fisher was not scalped as some accounts have stated but from the pieces of skull (now in possession of [son] Charles Fisher) it is evidenced that he was truck several times with the tomahawk.
"That same night Shintapper loaded his goods in a canoe and with his wife and child went down White River and was never heard of again. Benjamin Fisher was buried at Strawtown near where he was killed. His was the first grave in what is now known as Strawtown Cemetery."