IAGenWeb - Marion County |
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Washington is one of the original ten townships erected by the county commissioners on January 6, 1847. As established at that time it included all of township 74, range 20, and township 74, range 21, or, in other words, the present townships of Washington and Dallas. When the Township of Dallas was organized on October 3, 1848, Washington was reduced to its present area of thirty-six square miles--township 74, range 20. It is bounded on the north by Knoxville Township; on the east by Indiana; on the south by Lucas County, and on the west by Dallas Township. English Creek enters near the southwest corner and flows in a northeasterly direction through the township. Along this stream there was originally a broad belt of fine timber, but considerably more than half of the area is prairie land.
Being situated west of the Red Rock line, where the land remained in the hands of the Sac and Fox Indians until October, 1845, Washington was one of the last townships in the county to be settled. So far as can be learned, it is believed that the original pioneer of Washington was Josiah Willey, who settled there in 1846, but subsequently removed to Lucas County. In 1847 William Hunt, John Asher and William Clear made claims in the English Creek Valley. During the next five years settlers came in slowly. Among those who located claims during that time were Hiram, Larkin, George W. and Simon P. Moon, Joseph Pershall, John and William Agan, Andrew Reed and John Stotz.
The year 1853 witnessed a large number of land entries in this part of the county, actual settlers and speculators being alike attracted by the beautiful prairies. In that year Brumfield Long made a claim and built a large cabin on section 23. His house became a lodging place for land prospectors, and it is said he lodged as many as twenty in one night, but all the food he could offer them was "corn pone."
In the order of January 6, 1847, it was provided that the first township election should be held at the house of William Tibbett, but no returns of that election are available. The first election of |p. 135| which any recorde has been preserved was held on April 5, 1852, when Andrew Reed, Hezekiah Willey and Joseph B. Snyder were elected trustees; Allen Pearson, clerk; Joseph Grove and Allen Pearson, justices of the peace; Henry Dresser and James Fletcher, constables. It is known, however, that prior to this election, Joseph Pershall and James M. Brady served as justices of the peace; Hezekiah Willey, Joseph Scott and John Riddle, as trustees, and Allen Pearson, as clerk.
Hiram Moon was one of the best known of the early settlers. He was born in North Carolina, August 22, 1818, but removed to Indiana at an early age and lived in that state until the fall of 1848, when he came to Marion County. His cabin, on section 31, was the most western dwelling of a white man in Washington Township at the time it was built. Mr. Moon was a minister of the Christian denomination. His first sermon after becoming a resident of the county, was delivered at his own house on Sunday, March 4, 1849. In June of that year he organized a Christian Church of thirteen members. Ill health kept him in comparative poverty, but he retained his cheerful disposition and continued to preach occasionally to his little congregation at his own house until a short time before his death on January 25, 1861.
Allen Pearson, whose name appears above as the first township clerk, built the first brick chimney, the first shingle roof, and put up the first timothy hay in the township. He came from Missouri in July, 1849, and bought a claim from a man named Wilcut in section 10, not far from English Creek.
The first school was taught by Miss Mary Crowley in 1853, in a small cabin built by T. L. Strong, near the county line. Three school districts were formed in the introduction of the public school system, but five additional districts were subsequently created, so that in 1914 there were eight, in which twelve teachers were employed and 180 pupils were enrolled. The schoolhouses of the township were then valued at $4,300.
Washington has no railroad, and few events of a startling nature have ever occurred within her borders. The people are of that thrifty, industrious and frugal class which has done so much to build up the state, and are content to "pursue the even tenor of their way." The township stands eighth in population and sixth in the value of taxable property. In 1910 the population was 830, and in 1913 the property was assessed for taxation at $1,135,840, an average wealth per capita of nearly $1,400.