Honey Creek Township
View a history of Honey Creek Township.

GERTRUDE BLOCKSOM, farmer, whose maiden name was Gertrude POINTER, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1811. Mrs. BLOCKSOM's folks, as well as her husband's, came from Pickaway county, Ohio, to Honey Creek, in 1817, arriving here October 9. Her parents, Isaac and Mary POINTER, at first rented the LAMBERT place, near the graveyard, where they lived five years. Mr. POINTER at one time owned considerable land. He was elected, in 1860, associate judge. He died eight or ten years ago. The subject of this sketch kept house for her father for about thirty years, bringing up a younger sister. Since her father's death she has managed her farm herself, and has saved enough to build her a very comfortable little cottage, on a different part of the farm from where the old house stood. She owns about fifty acres, which her father gave to her for her devotion to him. Mrs. BLOCKSOM was married December 25, 1879, being then in her sixty-eighth year, to Jerry BLOCKSOM, who was born November 11, 1801. He had been twice married before, and has a large family of children and grandchildren in this township. Upon his marriage with his present wife he went to live with her in her cosy home, where they seem to enjoy life, as well as we might suppose they would have done had they been married fifty years ago. Mr. BLOCKSOM owns about 700 acres of land in this township in different tracts. They are both Methodists.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - pp. 483-484

LEVI BOGARD, farmer, Youngstown, was one in a family of sixteen children. His father was a soldier in the revolution and in the Indian wars. The subject of this sketch was born in Nelson, Kentucky, October 17, 1796. At the age of twenty-four he left his parents and moved to Lawrence county, Indiana, where he was married to Susan HOOPENGARNER, by whom he had twelve children, of whom six are living: Cornelius, John, Elizabeth, Daniel, E.W. and Febra. In 1830 he came with his family to Honey creek, where he bought eighty acres and afterward forty acres more in Sec. 34. He moved into a little cabin on the place in 1831, but since then has made considerable improvement and now has a comfortable home. His son John was in the Mexican war, under Col. GORMAN, and two of his sons were in the 31st Ind. in the war for the Union. He also had two grandsons in the Union army. Mr. BOGARD had no advantages in the way of education. His father taught him to read and to cipher as far as the rule of three. The remainder of his education he has obtained in the rough school of experience. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church. He formerly was a Dunkard and he still thinks they are as near to the right way as any. He was an ardent admirer of Henry CLAY, and since the dissolution of the whig party he has been a republican.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - pp. 486-487

O.M. CURRY, farmer, Terre Haute, was born December 21, 1829, in Honey Creek township. His parents, John and Jane (JORDAN) CURRY, were among the first settlers of Sullivan county, Indiana, giving their name to Curry's prairie in that county. Mr. CURRY has spent all of his life on the farm. He received but a very limited education at the typical log school-house of those early times. He was married November 9, 1854, to Elvira RYMAN, whose parents came to Honey Creek township from Kentucky in 1845. He is the father of five children: Charles, Albert, Jane, George, and Lucy. Notwithstanding the disadvantages of a limited education in his youth, he is now one of the most intelligent and enterprising citizens of this township. He owns a fine farm of 131 acres, on which he has a comfortable home, situated in Sec. 29. Mr. CURRY is a member of the Masonic lodge, No. 178, at Prairieton. He also belongs to Honey Creek Grange, No. 1, and was one of the charter members of this grange, which was the first one organized in the state.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - p. 484

BYRON DEMING, farmer and contractor, Terre Haute, was born December 12, 1833, in New York state, where he lived on his father's farm until he had reached the age of sixteen years. He then came to Harrison township, and went to work teaming and using a shovel on the Wabash and Erie canal. He afterward took contracts on the canal farther south, and from 1854 to 1858 had a position as brakeman on the Indianapolis and St. Louis railroad. Mr. DEMING has followed up his early experience in contracting on public works, and in late years has taken contracts to the amount of several thousand dollars on the streets of Terre Haute alone. He was married to Mary BAIRD, whose mother was Catherine DURHAM; and her father, James BAIRD, a half-brother of Wm. WALKER, who also married into the DURHAM family. Mr. DEMING is the father of three children: Katie, Mariette and Franklin. The first year after marriage he lived in Terre Haute; then for seven or eight years he occupied his father-in-law's farm, not far from where he now resides. Since 1868 he has lived in his present comfortable home, which is in Sec. 5, and was once a part of the old DURHAM estate. It contains fifty-three acres, and is worth $100 per acre. Mr. DEMING is a spiritualist, and a national in politics.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - pp. 489-490

REUBEN HALSTEAD, farmer and stock raiser, Terre Haute, was born in Butler county, Ohio, April 12, 1810. He lived on a farm in Ohio until about 1829, when he came to Tippecanoe county, Indiana, near Lafayette, and commenced dealing in stock, which business he followed until within the last few years with remarkable success. In 1832 he came to Riley township, where he bought land and continued to deal in stock. In a few years he moved back to his farm in Tippecanoe county, where he staid (sic) for four or five years, and since then has made his home in Vigo county, coming to his present place from Riley township in 1871. He was married about 1834 to Louisa BROWN, in Riley township. She was a native of Ohio. They have four children living. The eldest, W.R., is president of the New Albany, Indiana, female college, under the direction of the Methodist Episcopal conference. The names of the other children are Reuben, Belle and Josephine. Mr. HALSTEAD was given $500 by his father to start on in life, but by far the larger part of his capital was his untiring energy and strong determination to succeed. He now owns about 1,000 acres of good farming lands in Riley and Honey Creek townships. His home is in the last named township in Sec. 10. All of his family except himself are Methodists. He has been a democrat, but now belongs to the nationals.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - p. 487

GEORGE JORDON, farmer, Terre Haute, was born April 5, 1798, in Pennsylvania. His parents, William and Rachel (LAVERTY) JORDON, were of Scotch-Irish descent. When he was about four years old his parents removed to Ross county, Ohio, where young JORDON grew up to manhood, receiving scarcely any schooling. About 1817 he came to Honey Creek township, and put in a crop of wheat on LAMBERT's place. In 1819 he walked back through the woods to Ohio with one companion, sleeping and eating with the Indians, whom he trusted as friends, and never had occasion to regret it. In 1822 he made his first trip to New Orleans, with a flatboat loaded with corn, and subsequently made other trips. He was married in 1824 or 1825 to Judith H. BENNET, and by this union they had eight children, all of whom are living. The eldest, named Isaac, has been sheriff of Douglas county, Illinois. About 1830 Mr. JORDON was candidate for sheriff, but preferring to attend to his crop he gave the canvass but little or no attention, and did not get the office. Eighteen or twenty years ago he was elected to the office of town trustee, which position he held two years. He owns 160 acres in Sec. 9, worth about $100 per acre.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - p. 483

THOMAS I. KINNETT, farmer, Prairieton, was born in 1825, in Spencer county, Kentucky. He received a very limited education at the subscription schools in his native state. He lived on his father's farm in Kentucky until 1850, when he came to Vigo county and settled in Linton township, where he remained farming and trading in stock until 1853. He was married in that year to Sarah A. ELDRIDGE, of Linton township, daughter of William B. ELDRIDGE, a baptist minister, the associate of the venerable Samuel K. SPARKS, both of whom are still living, each having passed his ninetieth year. Mr. KINNETT is the father of two children: William E., and Clayton H. William E., who is now about twenty-two years of age, evinces considerable skill as an artist. The writer of this was shown a portrait of Senator VORHEES, "A Street Scene in Terre Haute," and other pieces executed by his pencil that were very creditable to the young artist, as he has had no special training in this work. After marriage Mr. KINNETT settled in Riley township, where he remained until 1859, when he came to the home he now occupies, in Sec. 30, in Honey Creek, near Prairieton. He has a finely improved farm, where he lives, of 51 acres, and owns other tracts near, in all about 120 acres. Mr. KINNETT is a democrat in politics.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - pp. 488-489

JOHN B. McCOSKEY, merchant, Youngstown, was born in Honey Creek township in 1825. He received a very limited education. He grew up on the farm, but just as he was arriving at manhood the Mexican war broke out, and he served through that under command of Col. GORMAN. In 1849 he was married to Becky JOSLIN, by whom he has three children: Ruth, Joseph, and Nannie. After marriage he farmed a few years in Illinois, and then about 1854 he went into a wholesale dry-goods house in Terre Haute, where he remained for fifteen years, doing a good business. In 1869 he came to Youngstown, where he opened a country grocery store, which is now managed by his son. Mr. McCOSKEY has had his children well educated. He lives in Youngstown, but owns a small farm in this township, and valuable property in Terre Haute.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - p. 484

ALLISON PUGH, farmer, Terre Haute, was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1829. His father, Thomas PUGH, was born in South Carolina, May 27, 1798, and came to Warren county, Ohio, in 1815; thence to Vigo county in 1835, and located in Honey Creek township, where he continued to live until his death, which occurred in 1875. Allison PUGH was married in 1867 to Miss Mary L. REYNOLDS, daughter of Mason and Catharine REYNOLDS, who were early settlers of this county. Mr. PUGH is the owner of a fine farm consisting of 140 acres, and by his social and courteous treatment of his neighbors has gained the respect of all who know him.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - pp. 487-488

E.A. ROBERTS, farmer, Terre Haute, was born in Orange county, Indiana, June 28, 1843. His parents were Joseph and Ruth A. (RIGNEY) ROBERTS. His father was killed by some falling of some timbers in a mill which he had bought and was removing to another place. This occurred in the latter part of 1850, his father dying January 1, 1851. His grandfather, Peter H. ROBERTS, was in HARRISON's army when he came into this county, and was one of the two men who fired up and killed a runaway negro near that point of woods in Honey Creek township which has since been known as Negro Point. In 1856 the widow ROBERTS, with her two daughters and son, moved into Honey Creek on the McPHEETERs farm, where they remained until 1861, when they bought four acres near where they now live. Young ROBERTS had received a ver limited education, but his two sisters received a good one. One of them, Mary, is the wife of Charles BUTLER, of Effingham, Illinois, master mechanic in the shops of the Vandalia railroad at that place. Mr. BUTLER owns an interest in the steamboat Reindeer, that plies on the Wabash below Terre Haute, mainly in carrying corn to Terre Haute, and has a good and profitable business. The other sister, Emily, is dead. Mr. ROBERTS was married October 6, 1873, to Mary, daughter of Samuel H. JACKSON, whose father was one of the pioneers of Harrison township. His wife died November 4, 1879, leaving one child, Emma. His mother has lived with him since that sad event. He has acquired a valuable farm of ninety-one acres on Sec. 29, worth about $50 per acre, near where he settled nearly nineteen years ago, by perseverance, pluck and honest toil, and can say that he has succeeded much better than he expected when he was a homeless boy, having his own way to make in the world. He is a democrat, and takes an active interest in the affairs of his party. He belongs to Fort Harrison Lodge, No. 156, I.O.O.F., and has lately become a member of Honey Creek Grange, No. 1.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - p. 489

NELSON ST. CLAIR, farmer, Youngstown, was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, where the town of Sullivan now stands, January 23, 1818. His parents were Eli and Fannie (SINER) ST. CLAIR who emigrated from Kentucky to Sullivan county at an early day. The subject of this sketch moved with his parents to Pierson township, in Vigo county, when he was about seventeen years of age, where he followed farming for several years. He was married November 7, 1839, to Eliza EVANS, daughter of Moses EVANS, an old settler of Pierson township. By this marriage he had three children, all of whom are married and living near. Their names are Sylvester, Martha and William. The last named was in the 31st Ind., and was in all the battles in which his regiment participated, and was also taken prisoner and confined in the Libby prison. Mr. ST. CLAIR came to Honey Creek in 1849, and to his present home in 1850. His first wife having died, he was married to Sarah E. BEARD, daughter of Felix BEARD, of Pierson township. By this marriage they have four children: Mary, Eliza, Belle and Rena. He has a well improved farm of 113 acres in Sec. 27, all of which he has made from his own exertions. Although denied the privileges of attending school in his youth, he has kept himself well posted by reading and observation, and is to-day one of the most intelligent man in his township. He was formerly a whig, but has been a staunch republican from the formation of that party.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - p. 488

MRS. CAROLINE C. STEVENSON, market gardener and farmer, Terre Haute, was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, in 1827, and is the daughter of Rev. Samuel HULL, a native of Virginia. Her mother was a native of Tennessee, whose maiden name was Mary CUTTER. She was a well educated woman, and was first married in Tennessee to Wesley HARRISON. They liberated their slaves, and moved to Sullivan county, Indiana, where Mr. HARRISON died, and where she was married to Mr. HULL. In 1830 Mr. HULL came to Honey Creek with his family, and bought the old LAMBERT farm, and about 1837 built the house near the graveyard, where Wesley HULL now lives. The subject of this sketch kept house for her father after her mother's death, which occurred a few years before she was married. Her father died in 1857. She was married in 1847 to George STEVENSON, a bookbinder from Philadelphia, who came to Honey Creek about 1838. After marriage they lived for some years on her father's farm, but since 1856 have lived on the farm which she now owns on Sec. 16. Mrs. STEVENSON has had nine children, five of whom are living: Mary, Belle, Florence, Nannie and Jennie. Her husband died in August, 1875. She raises vegetables for the Terre Haute market, and for many years has had a stall in the market-house. Her farm of eighty acres is worth about $100 per acre.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - p. 486

DANIEL D. WALKER, deceased, was the son of William and Susannah WALKER, and was born at the old WALKER homestead, in Honey Creek township, October 2, 1830. His parents were among the earliest settlers of Honey Creek. His mother was the daughter of Daniel DURHAM, who settled here in 1822, and was prominent in the early history of Vigo county. The subject of this sketch received a good education, graduating at the early age of nineteen from the scientific course at Asbury University. He was a room-mate of Senator D.W. VORHEES, and in the same class with him. Mr. WALKER was married April 1, 1862 to Miss Mary A. CORBEN, a native of Ohio, but who was at that time residing in Honey Creek township. Her parents were natives of England. Mr. WALKER was the father of four children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Susannah, born February 24, 1863; William D., born April 24, 1867; Alice M., born May 5, 1869, and Anna, who was born March 22, 1866, and died in infancy. Mr. WALKER died June 5, 1869, before he had reached even the prime of life. In his death the township lost one of its most valued citizens. Mr. WALKER was of a social, genial disposition, and a favorite with all, especially with the young people of his neighborhood, and was respected and esteemed for his manly worth and sterling integrity. Although not a church member, he was a christian in the full sense of the word. He gave liberally toward the building of the Grove church in his township, and was ever ready to engage in any enterprise that had for its object the elevation of society or the advancement of christianity. Mr. WALKER was engaged in farming during all his life except his college days. Mrs. WALKER and her children still live on the old WALKER estate, where she owns 127 acres worth $100 per acre.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - pp. 485-486

JOHN WEIR, farmer, Terre Haute, was born in East Tennessee, in Blount county, January 9, 1806. He is the son of Andrew and Mary (LEMON) WEIR, who were natives of Ireland, where they were married and where three of their children were born. About 1775 they came to America, and settled at first in North Carolina. They afterward moved to East Tennessee, and were in poor circumstances when the subject of this sketch was born. When he was about eleven years old he came with his parents to Sullivan county, Indiana, where he lived for several years on a farm on Curry's prairie. He was married December 2, 1828, to Martha ERNEST, who was born in Knox county, Indiana. She died October 31, 1860. They were the parents of thirteen children, only two of whom are now living. Two of them died in infancy without names. The others were named as follows: Margaret, Mary, William, Wesley, Margaret J., Sarah A., Eusebia, Hiram, Martha E., Thirza, and John L. He was married again September 19, 1861, to Thirza (HICCOX) BAIRD. There are no children by this last union. A year or two after his first marriage Mr. WEIR came to Honey Creek township and built a log house in Sec. 20, not far from where his present fine residence now stands. He built here in 1835, but it was only a few years ago that, by remodeling and adding to the old structure, he made it one of the best farm residences in the township. He now owns nearly 300 acres, a part of which lies in Linton township. Mr. WEIR was early attracted to the principles of the grange movement, and through his efforts, aided by some of his neighbors, the first grange in Indiana was organized. He was the first master, and was also first master of the Indiana state grange. He was thus prominently brought before the public, and had he been of a less retiring disposition he might have received high honors from his admiring countrymen. Although he has now reached an advanced age, he still takes a lively interest in state and national affairs, and particularly in the great enterprises of the west. He still hopes to see the day when large ocean steamers may ascend the Mississippi river and carry the farmer's grain cheaply to Europe. Mr. WEIR is a Methodist, and also belongs to the Masonic order, Prairieton Lodge, No. 178.

HISTORY OF VIGO AND PARKE COUNTIES, Together With Historic Notes on the Wabash Valley
H.W. Beckwith - 1880
Honey Creek Twp. - pp. 484-485

View a history of Honey Creek Township.

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