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Clark township is
bounded on the east by Greene township, of Clinton county; on the
southeast and south by Highland county; on the west by Brown county
and Jefferson township, of Clinton county, and on the northwest and
north by Washington township. It is located in the southern
part of the county and extends further south than any other portion
of the county. It is very irregular in shape. A line
drawn between the extremest points north and south would extend
about nine miles and such a line across the center, east and west,
would measure about six and a half miles. Its area includes
about twenty-three thousand five hundred acres of land. This
section was part of the Virginia military district and, prior to the
organization of Clinton county in 1810, the eastern portion was
included in Highland county and the western portion was embraced in
Warren county, the line between the two being about one-half mile
west of the present site of Martinsville. From 1810 to 1817,
the portion east of this line was included in Green township, that
west of the line, in Vernon. A petition, signed by many
citizens of this section of the county, was presented to the county
commissioners on July 14, 1816, asking that a new township be
organized with the boundaries as they are at present, except that it
extended northward to Cowan's creek, thus including all the eastern
portion of Washington township. It was reduced to its present
confines by the establishment of Washington township in 1835.
NATURAL FEATURES.
SETTLEMENT.
Tradition has it that Thomas Johns
was the first to settle within the present bounds of Clark township.
He is said to have located on the East fork, about three miles
southeast of the present site of Martinsville. Nothing about
the place of his birth or of the date of his settlement can be
ascertained. However, it is known that Isaac Miller
settled about three miles east of Martinsville. The story is
told that Mr. Miller, needing a hoe, journeyed sixteen miles
on foot through the forests to New Market in Highland county to make
his purchase. Joseph McKibben also settled about the
same time in the same neighborhood. In 1806, John Wright
came from North Carolina, bought the present site of Martinsville,
for two dollars an acre, and settled there. He was mainly
instrumental in the laying -out of that village and erected the
first house within its limits. A daughter of his was the first
person to be interred in the Friend's graveyard at Martinsville.
By the year 1808, Samuel McCulloch had settled on East fork,
four miles southeast of Martinsville, and Isaac Van Meter and
John Jones near the present site of Lynchburg.
Daniel and Joseph Moon, brothers, came
from Jefferson county, Tennessee, in the
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spring of 1808, and settled about one mile east of Martinsville.
Samuel Moon, another brother, and John Ruth a
brother-in-law and the husband of Jane Moore, came to the
same neighborhood in the following fall. In the spring of the
following year, 1809, Joseph Moon, Sr., father of the above,
with his family and two sons, William and Jesse, and
their families, and his brother, John Moon, joined the others
in the new settlement. Another brother-in-law, James Garner,
the husband of Mary Moon, settled in the same limits in 1811.
In 1810, John Beales, of North Carolina,
Christopher Hiatt, of Virginia, and James Puckett and
Daniel Puckett, both from North Carolina, settled in the
neighborhood about Martinsville. Daniel Puckett was a
minister in the Friends church and was one of the first to preach
the gospel in the new settlement. He afterwards moved to
Indiana. William West settled one-half a mile north of
Martinsville in 1811. He is the ancestor of the great family
of Wests, of Clark township. Joseph Mills, Sr., of
North Carolina settled to the northeast of Martinsville in 1814.
In the same year, David Hockett, Sr., settled in that
neighborhood. He died in 1842, at the ripe age of
seventy-seven. Jonathan Hockett, a brother of David,
settled one-half mile west of Martinsville in 1816.
Jacob Hunt and family, of Virginia, settled a
short distance to the north of Martinsville in 1816 and the
following year were joined by his brother, Thomas Hunt, who
settled adjoining. In 1819, Aaron Betts, of Virginia,
settled to the west of Martinsville, purchasing a large tract of
land.
The following names should be mentioned in a list of
the early pioneers of the township. No authentic information
could be obtained as to the date of their settlements: John
Lytle, William Nixon, Aaron Ruse, William and Richard Owsley,
Joshua Betterton, Daniel Nordyke, Jacob Jackson, Owen West, Isaac,
William and Robert Jones, Gideon McKibbin, Thomas McLin,
William Chalfont, William Davis, Ashley Johnson, George Shields,
William Patterson and James Hadley.
MILLS.
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MARTINSVILLE.
By L. Eula__s Spencer.
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BUSINESS INTERESTS.
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the business session of each meeting a program of readings and music
is enjoyed. Refreshments are then served by the hostess.
The motto of this society is, "Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no
evil." The colors are red, white and blue.
FARMER'S STATION.
Farmer's Station is a stop
on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, about midway between Martinsville
and New Vienna. This town was never platted, and evidently
sprang up after the building of a railroad through this part of the
county. J. F. McKibben is the present agent for this
railroad. Kibben also owns and runs an up-to-date
general merchandise store in the village. A produce house is
also kept in connection with the store. R. E. Ellis and
Benjamin Drake have a blacksmith shop and do a general repair
work of all kinds. F. M. & Ed Achor are dealers in
buggies and farm implements. There are two coal yards in the
village, operated by McKibben & Preston. The population
at present comprises about twenty families.
JONESBORO.
Jonesboro is the last town
started in Clark township. This little hamlet is situated just
south of Martinsville, on the Martinsville and Westboro pike.
It is merely a cluster of houses on the cross roads and was never
platted. There are no business or professional interests at
present.
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