|
||
 Wells
County was named in honor of Captain William H. Wells, of Fort Wayne, who
was killed by the Indians on the 15th of August 1812, near Chicago, in an
attempt to escort the garrison of Fort Dearborn to Fort Wayne. It was organized
in 1837 and is bounded north by Allen, east by Adams, south by Jay and Blackford
and west by Grant and Huntington. It contains 372 square miles. The civil
townships are Jefferson, Lancaster, Harrison and Nottingham in the east,
Chester in the south and Union, Rock Creek, Liberty and Jackson in the west.
The population in 1840 was 1,822; it is at this time [1849] about 4,500.
The land is either nearly level or gently undulating, the soil uniformly good, the timber oak, walnut, ash, hickory, beech and sugar. With the exception of a few wet prairies and swamps that require to be drained, the whole county may be farmed to advantage in all the usual products of the climate. The settlements are mostly so recent that as yet no great amount of surplus is exported, but Fort Wayne is the principal market. There are in the county three gristmills, five sawmills, one woolen factory, one printing office, six stores, four groceries, tow lawyers, six physicians, ten preachers of the Gospel, the usual proportion of mechanics and one church each for the Methodist, Presbyterians, United Brethren and Christians. The taxable land amounts to 199,637 acres, and there are about 4,000 acres of Indian Reserves and Unites States land in the county. |
||
|
|
|
|
