ADAMS COUNTY

 

Mount Etna

Section 15, Washington Township

 

 

From the 1936 WPA Writers Project

 

This Village, located eleven miles north of Corning on U.S. 148, has no bus nor railroad service and is merely a trading point with no hotels or tourist camps.  The population of Mount Etna is 75. Businesses of the town include a cafe, garage, two general stores and two oil stations. There are two small churches and a grade school in the village.

 

 

1984 Adams County History Book

In March 1853, Adams County was organized and most of the area was included in Quincy Township. But in 1858 a separate section was organized and named Washington Township. During this interval, the US Government, on July 1, 1854, granted Levi Prickett a claim to the land that was to become Mount Etna. He sold it on Feb 10, 1855 for $140 to Isaiah Fees. Mount Etna officially became a place on October 14, 1856. Robert Mansfield named it, but we don't know why he called it Mt. Etna.

 

The Fees family, the Schoolings, the Abraham Thomas family, the Gideon Farris family, and Morgan family were among the first settlers in Washington Township, having arrived around 1850-1852. John Fees and Jacob Fees were among the thirteen registered voters who voted at Quincy in 1853. Other early settlers in this township include: H.C. Ankeny, Isaac Poston, A.L. Wells, E.Y. Burgan, Clark D. Lawrence, J.R. Holbrook, and Phelix Schooling. As early as 1851 there were settlers in Washington Twp: the John Sprague family settled southeast of Mt. Etna, the Morgan Warren family settled just east of Mt. Etna, the Adam Poor family settled near Eureka, the Parson family settled at Eureka.  However, because of the Indian raids, many returned to Burlington for a time. It is said that within a year most of them had returned to their empty cabins and had become permanent settlers in or near Mt. Etna. In the fall of 1852 the first white child was born in Washington Township; a son, Scott Warren, was born to the Morgan Warrens.