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MONROE TOWNSHIP.

     The first white settler in the township was Samuel Freeman, who brought his family to Monroe in 1801; he located about one mile south of where Tippecanoe now is, and built his cabin soon as possible, occupying a bark hut left by the Indians until he had finished a house of his own.  John Freeman, a son of the former, built the first corn-cracker in the township, near the bayou, in 1806.
     John Yount came from North Carolina to Monroe Township in 1802, bringing his family with him, and making his home for some time right among the Indians; he entered his farm at $2 per acre, which they “stepped off,” thus dispensing
with the services of a surveyor.
     Michael Fair was probably the next settler in the township; he brought his family from Frederick County, Md., and settled one mile and a half southwest

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[PORTRAIT]
WILLIAM J. WILEY
Spring Creek Tp.

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of the present site of Tippecanoe, in 1804.  Mr. F. was stepfather to John Clark, who afterward laid out the town.  George Fair, a son of M. F.’s, born in Maryland in 1794, has resided in the township seventy-six years, and is the oldest resident in Monroe.
     John Clark, a native of Chester County, Md., immigrated to Ohio with his parents in 1804.  They located first in Greene County, but, not being satisfied to remain there, removed to Monroe Township in October of the same year, and settled permanently one mile and a half west of Tippecanoe, where they resided till their death.  In early life, John was wholly dependent on his own exertions for a livelihood, and, as the sequel shows, proved himself competent for the emergency.  In after years, he became one of the largest land-holders in the township.  Mr. C. was a man of great business capacity, and, in the course of his business life, made four trips to New Orleans with flat-boats loaded with produce; and, although such a journey was considered very hazardous, under his management they became very successful financially.
     David Jenkins, was born in Newberry District, S. C., in 1758, from which place he emigrated, in 1805, reaching this township the same year.  He was accompanied West by Elisha Jones.  Mr. Jenkins’ four sons, viz., Amos, Phineas, Eli and Jesse, came to the township, and settled near their father, between the years 1805 and 1808.  The log cabin used by Mr. J. as a residence when he first came to the township still stands on Section 8, and is, without doubt, the oldest dwelling in Monroe Township.
     David Jenkins, Esq., commonly distinguished as “Squire” Jenkins, reached Monroe in 1806, and located on part of Section 20.  He was a prominent man in the community, and figured conspicuously in all affairs of a public character in his township.  Elected Justice of the Peace in 1818, he was continued in office till his death, in 1858.
     Thomas Pearson was, at the time of his arrival in the township, the oldest man in the settlement.  He immigrated here from Newberry District, S. C., in 1806, at the age of seventy-six years.  His sons, Enoch, Jonas, and Thomas, Jr., all of whom had families, came here at the same time, and settled on Section 20.  Samuel Pearson came from South Carolina the same year, and the different members of the Pearson family then entered land on portions of Sections 20, 21, 22 and 29.  Thomas, Sr., was a Quaker minister of considerable notoriety, while his son Enoch was the first blacksmith in the township.  Samuel P. was accompanied by his nine sons.
     John Jay came to Monroe Township in 1803, accompanied by his family of seven sons and three daughters, only one of the sons being married at that time, but the rest took to themselves wives, and the family in a short time became so numerous that they formed quite a settlement by themselves, and were known as the “Jay set.”  Upon their arrival here they entered portions of Sections 25, 36 and 31, which they soon cleared and brought under a high degree of cultivation.  Walter D. Jay was the first man who refused to countenance the use of ardent spirits in the harvest field.  He was a man noted for his integrity, a stanch Abolitionist, and, as far as was in his power to be, a patron of education.
     Paul Macy immigrated here with his two married sons. Thomas and Paul, Jr., in 1808; the family were natives of Tennessee.  Upon arriving in Cincinnati, they entered portions of Sections 31 and 32, where they subsequently built their log cabins, and, by the constancy of their labors as well as the strict integrity of their dealings with their fellows, they made for themselves not only pleasant homes, but sustained the relation of prominent citizens to the community.
     George North, accompanied by his three sons, came to Monroe Township from Georgia, alter he had passed the age of fourscore years.  He had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was a great admirer of President Monroe, so, when the right of naming the township was ceded to him, he called it Monroe, in honor of that great and good man.  Mr. N. was an influential man in the community, and was more than one hundred years old at the time of his death.

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     George Kerr, from Virginia, located in Monroe Township in 1804.  Beside those already referred to, the names of Layton, Fergus, Westlake, Puterbaugh, Shafer, Furnas, etc., are familiarly spoken of as having been among the earliest as well as the most prominent persons in the township; and the many advantages now enjoyed by the citizens of the township are due, in a great measure, to the unwearying exertions of these men, who began the work that has been rapidly forwarded by each successive generation.

TIPPECANOE CITY.

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 NEWSPAPERS.

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SECRET SOCIETIES.

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CHURCHES.

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TIPPECANOE CITY SCHOOLS.

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MANUFACTORIES.

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     The Grape Sugar Factory is now being erected by a common joint-stock company, consisting of about twelve stockholders.  This is the only establishment of the kind in the county, and the company is making preparations for carrying on an extensive business.  The buildings are very large, the central one being 40x48 feet, and four stories high; another, running north and south from this, is 40x125 feet, three stories high, while the north wing, running east and west, is 100 feet deep.  The whole thing, when completed, will cost about $50,000.  The company expect to begin operations about the 1st of August.
     Trupp, Weakley & Co., builders and contractors, established their firm in 1872, when they put up their buildings, east of the railroad in Tippecanoe City, at a cost of about $6,500, to which they soon added machine to the value of $10,000.  They have been carrying on a very extensive business since they began operating, constantly employing about forty hands making sash, blinds, doors, etc., etc., doing, perhaps, as large a business in their line as any firm in the county.

MISCELLANEOUS.

     Tippecanoe City was incorporated Monday, May 5, 1851, and the following officers were elected for that year; viz., Levi N. Booker, Mayor; E. F. Shields, Recorder; Thomas Jay, Michael Shellabarger and Henry Krise, Councilmen; Eli Snell, Marshal; and I. L. Wilcox, Treasurer.   They took the oath of office from A. B. Hartman, J. P.
     The officers for 1880 are: A. H. Wesler, Mayor; John K. Herr, Treasurer; Samuel Galloway, Clerk; David Carles, Marshal; John Clark, John L. Norris and G. W. Weakley, Councilmen; Joseph Brump, Street Commissioner.

MAILS.

     The first mail matter coming to Monroe Township stopped at the post office which was then located in Hyattsville.  Henry J. Hyatt, was the first Postmaster.  He lived in a log cabin with one room, which was used as a dry-goods store, tailor’s shop, post office and dwelling house; and, as the room was by no means large, it will readily be seen that every part of the house was occupied.  The mail was brought from West Charleston once a week, by Kiel Hoagland, a youth of ten summers, who rode a bob-tailed sorrel horse, with a blazed face, by no means as fleet as the one Mazeppa rode.
     Many years afterward, when the mail-boy reached manhood, he became one of the proprietors of the Royal Baking Powder, manufactured in New York, and is now a millionaire.  Perhaps, if he had been told, when trying to make the old sorrel jump the ditch in front of the post office, that the day was coming when he could sit in a cushioned carriage of his own, with his driver in the box, he would not have believed the prediction.  Dr. Gilbert became Postmaster in 1851, and was instrumental in having three mails a week instead of one.  The post office paid at that time about $15 per year.  A. W. Miles, the present Postmaster in Tippecanoe City, receives about $600 per year.

TIPPECANOE CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT.

     A hook and ladder company was organized in 1872, with Charles Trupp, Chief Director, and Daniel B. Davis, Thomas J. Sheets, George L. Favorite and Daniel Argabright, Assistant Directors.  The department was re-organized in 1874, when a new engine was purchased at a cost of $7,000.

CEMETERIES.

     Of these there are several in the township, the oldest having been set aside for burial purposes in 1808.  The principal one in use at present, lies southwest of Tippecanoe.  It was purchased a few years sine by a company of stock-holders, of which Jacob Rohrer is President.  There are thirty-two acres of ground in the plat, a portion of it already laid off into neat logs, and here quite a number of the early settlers are buried.  Thus ends the history of Monroe for the three quarters of of a century that have come and gone.  A new era is dawning, the importance of

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which is not paralleled by any precedent.  Another page in the book of her existence
is being turned,'upon the unsullied surface of which remain to be chronicled the deeds of the present generation.  Let the works of her people in the present age reach what magnitude they may, they surely cannot excel in importance those of the forefathers, upon whose lives and works, the most apathetic individual cannot meditate without acknowledging them to be “men of thought and men of action,” who did well the work that was given them to do.
     Fredericktown—(Fidelity P. O.)—Situated partly in Union Township, received its name from Frederick Yount, one among the earliest settlers of the township.
     Ginghamsburg—A village of but secondary importance, is situated in the southern part of the township, contains a few dwellings, and also one or two
places where goods of various descriptions are bought and sold.

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