February Display Case

Ron Tetrick has put together a display case to go along with the program that he will present to the Howard County Genealogical Society on Monday, Feb. 12, from 6 to 8 p.m.  The title is:

“Newbury Preparative Meeting: Union Township, Howard County, Indiana, 1842-1857”

Friends (Quakers) began settling around the Forks of the Wildcat Creek as early as 1842, when the land was still part of the Big Miami Indian Reserve.  Most came from Deer Creek Antislavery Monthly Meeting in Mill Township, Grant County, Indiana, but others came from Friends meetings in Henry, Randolph and Wayne counties.  Early family names were Bailey, Anderson, Mendenhall, Felton, Jones, Baldwin, Lancaster, Fry, Horine, Dean, Mason, Moorman, Wright, Ellis, and Macy.  Many moved farther west in the late 1850s and 1860s to Kansas, Iowa and Missouri.  Those who died here were buried at the Forks of Wildcat Creek Cemetery, Simpson Cemetery, Jerome Cemetery and New Salem Cemetery.  Only descendants of the Ellis, Horine and Mendenhall families remain in the county today.  The display shows how Union Township was created out of what had been Green Township; a photo of the cemetery; photos of some of the people who lived here from 1842 to 1860; and several tombstones of those who were buried here or farther west.  This is a part of our county history which never before had been documented.  This information will become part of our Vertical Files Collection after the HCGS presentation on February 12.