Chapter 11

Organization of The County

This treaty was signed, on the part of the United States, my Major General Anthony Wayne, and by the Indians, by chief of the following tribes: Wyandotte, Shawnee, Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawatomie, Miami, Eel River, Wea, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia.

The Indians in ceded the land lying north of this boundary line to the United States in a Treaty made at St. Mary's, Ohio, October 6, 1818. It was between Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, Commissioners of the United States, and the Chiefs of the Miami Nation of Indians, viz: Peshawa or Richardville, Osas, Ketauga or Charley, and others. In this Treaty many reservations were made by the Indians, two of which were in Jay, as follows: "One reservation of two miles square on the Salimonie River, at the mouth of Atchepongquawe Creek," (now called Butternut, from the butternut trees growing along its banks). The other reserve "to Francois Godfrey six sections of land on the Salimonie River, at a place called Lapetite Prairie." The two-mile reservation on the Butternut Creek was ceded to the United States by the Miami tribe of Indians, in a Treaty made October 23, 1834, at the forks of the Wabash, below Huntington.

Colonel John Vawter, of Jennings County, was Chairman of a Committee in the House of Representatives, of the Legislature of 1835-'36, that introduced a bill, which passed and was approved February 7th, 1835, entitling "an act laying out all the unorganized territory, to which the Indian title has been extinguished, in the State, into a suitable number of counties, and for other purposes," by which the counties of Jay, Adams, Wells, DeKalb, Steuben, Whitley, Kosciusko, Fulton, Marshall, Starke, Pulaski, Jasper, Newton and Porter were all laid out.

The following is section third of that act:

That all the territory included within the following boundary lines shall constitute and form a county, to be known by the name of Jay; beginning at the southeast corner of Adams County, thence west to the eastern boundary of Grant County, thence south to the northern boundary of Delaware, thence east with the northern boundary of said county, to the north-east corner of the same, thence south to the north-west corner of Randolph County, thence east with the northern boundary of said county, to the Sate Line, thence north to the place of beginning.

This included the territory of Blackford County, which was organized into an independent county in 1837.

The chief labor of laying out the territory into counties devolved upon Colonel Vawter, who was better acquainted with the country than any other member of the committee, yet, when the counties were named, he was not allowed the privilege of giving a name to even one of the fourteen counties organized by his bill. He always regretted this exceedingly, as he was very anxious to name one county Armstrong, in honor of a brave old soldier of that name who spent his best days in the northern part of Indiana, and who finally fell a victim to Indian barbarity.

It cannot be ascertained who gave the name of Jay to this county. Some member of the Legislature gave the name in an amendment to the bill. The Randolph Count commissioner's record calls it by this name as early as May 1835.

John Jay, in honor of whom the county was named, was the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was appointed Minister to England in 1794, when he resigned the office of Chief Justice. In 1800, while he was Governor of New York, he was re-appointed Chief Justice, but declined the appointment.

Another act was passed, approved January 30, 1836, by which the county was organized.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, &c.: That, from and after the first day of March next, the county of Jay shall enjoy all the rights and jurisdiction which, to separate and independent counties, do or may properly belong.

Secs. 2nd and 3rd, appointed the commissioners to locate the County Seat, made it the duty of the Sheriff of Randolph County to notify them, and that they should be paid from the treasury of Jay County.

Sec. 4th, provided that the first circuit and other courts should be head at the house of Henry H. Cuppy.

Sec. 5, made it the duty of the county agent to reserve ten percent of the money received from the sale of donated lots for the use of the County Library.

Sec. 6th, set forth the duties of the Board of County Commissioners, and the 8th placed the county in the 8th Judicial Circuit and the 5th Congressional District.

The following persons were appointed by the Legislature to locate the County Seat: Judge Jer. Smith, Judge Zechariah Pucket, still living in Randolph County, Jacob Thornburg, of Henry County, who has been dead many years, Mr. Nathan Coleman, of Allen County, and Mr. Philip Moore, of Delaware County, who died about that time. With the exception of Mr. Moore, they all met at H. H. Cuppy's the first Monday in June 1836, as required by the law. Camden, they said, though a pretty site, was too far from the center, (for they then anticipated that Blackford County would be stricken off.) The geographical center of the county, one and a quarter miles northwest of Portland, was too low. They then viewed the "Sugar-tree" grove, about one and a half miles southwest of Portland, and decided that was the most appropriate spot. But they were falsely told by a man who desired to enter that land himself, that the owner of it lived in Union County, Indiana, and would not sell the land on any terms. They then took eighty acres on the north side of Salimonie, offered by Daniel Ried, of Richmond, through the agency of H. H. Cuppy, and ten aces adjoining, offered by James Hathaway. Ried reserved half the lots around the Courthouse square, and one-third of all others.

Jay County is eighteen miles long (north and south), twenty-one miles wide across the north end, and twenty-two across the south end. The face of the country is generally level, although somewhat broken along the watercourses. The surface soil is usually a dark loam, with a subsoil of clay, intermixed with limestone gravel. There is a section of country lying toward the northwest part of the county, embracing about six square miles, which is in some of its features unlike other portions. In this section, the surface soil is a sandy loam, lying upon a gravel subsoil. It is interspersed with many hillocks or knobs, which Benjamin Ninde called the Lost Mountains. This district is chiefly in Penn Township.

There is not much rock in the county. Enough "grayheads" generally are found to supply the demand for walling cellars and wells. In the vicinity of Antioch, and three miles north of Portland, this variety of rock prevails extensively. For two miles above and below New Corydon the Wabash River flows over a stratum of white limestone. A mile south of the river this quarry of stone crops out in the creeks and runs, but being in the beds of the streams, can only be quarried in dry season. A limekiln has been in operation for several seasons on the south bank of the river, by Washington Walter, which turns out lime unsurpassed anywhere. Limestone is also found on the Salimonie some two miles below Portland.

The country is very well watered by the numerous streams that take their rise within its limits. They have so little fall, however, they afford but very little waterpower. Springs abound along some of these streams. It was originally very heavily timbered with beech, hickory, oak, ash, walnut, sugar, maple, elm, linden, sycamore, &c. When the first settlers came, the woods were destitute of an undergrowth. As the settlements became general, and fires were not allowed to run through the timber lands, a dense undergrowth sprung up.

The county abounds in wild fruits, consisting of plums, grapes, paw-paws, blackberries, gooseberries, and, in the neighborhood of the Loblolly, were huckleberries and cranberries.

A belt extends across the north part of Jackson Township from west to east, varying in width from eighty rods to a mile, called the Loblolly. It consists of brushy ponds, wet prairies and small lakes. Along its border is some of the richest land within the county. It is thought that nearly the entire tract can be reclaimed and made very profitable for agricultural purposes. Considerable portions of it were conveyed by the United States to the State of Indiana several years since, and were by the State sold, the proceeds of which, after paying expenses, were to be applied in draining the lands so sold. With this fund some draining has been done; the amount of the fund, however, was insufficient to complete the work. The county is bounded on the north by the counties of Adams and Wells, on the east by Mercer and Darke counties, Ohio, on the south by Randolph County, and on the west by Delaware and Blackford counties.

The following table shows the number of acres and square miles in each Township.

	Acres	Sq. miles
Richland	17,434 13-100	27
Knox	15,336 71-100	24
Penn	19,174 91-100	30
Jefferson	22,753 66-100	36
Green	22,705 45-100	35
Jackson	22,986 83-100	36
Pike	22,257 79-100	35
Wayne	23,650 39-100	37
Bear Creek	22,063 68-100	34
Madison	18,692 92-100	29
Noble	19,901 94-100	31
Wabash	14,733 67-100	23
	-------------------	---
Total	241,692 08-100	377

The county was now (1836) organized. This fact, added to the reputation the county had gained for richness of soil, heavy timber, abundance of game and cheap land, brought new settlers by hundreds during this and the several succeeding years. Entering land, building houses, clearing fields, and cutting out roads, occupied almost exclusively the attention of the people. Prior to this time there had been, during four years, only sixty-four entries of land. The following shows the number of pieces of land entered in each township during this and the following year:

	No. entries	No. entries
	in 1836	in 1837
Richland	45	78
Knox	64	51
Penn	111	38
Jefferson	27	157
Green	24	76
Jackson	82	57
Pike	32	116
Wayne	64	87
Bear Creek	35	80
Madison	28	74
Noble	25	38
Wabash	26	36
	---	---
Total	563	888
		-------
Total for 1836-'37		1451

Large numbers also came in who did not enter land immediately. This sudden and numerous influx - all "early settlers" - precludes all possibility of our even mentioning their names in this work, much less recounting their experiences. And, indeed, it is unnecessary. Enough has been said of the earlier settlers to exhibit pioneer life in all its important aspects. To add more from the abundance that might be given, would be to tire the reader with the repeated narration of similar occurrences.