Indiana’s Timeless Tales - 1782 - 1791: Indiana History Time Line, #2

January, 08 1782 - John Vawter Born

John Vawter (January 8, 1782 - August 17 1862)

The son of Jesse and Elizabeth Watts Vawter, John was native to Orange County, Virginia. John gained his Baptist preacher license in 1804 and married Polly Smith on December 17, 1805. The couple had three children.

Move to Indiana

John and his father, along with several men from Scott and Franklin Counties in Kentucky traveled to Indiana sometime before 1806 on an exploratory mission. The men traveled in two parties, one party by land and another by water. The land party crossed the river at Port Milton. The other party traveled by canoe and landed at a point opposite Milton, Kentucky. The men explored and then returned to Kentucky. John came back to Indiana in May 1806, once again landing opposite Milton, Kentucky. After exploring the area again, he returned to Kentucky. He came back again in September with his brother in law, John Benhamr. John brought his family to settle in the Madison area in March 1807. John became the first magistrate of Madison and later served as the sheriff of Jefferson and Clark Counties. In 1810, he received appointment as U. S. Marshall in the Indiana Territory. He stayed in the Madison area until 1812, when he migrated into the area that would become Vernon. The beauty of the Muscatatuck area compelled him to stay. At this time Indians still inhabited the region and there was only one other white family in the area that would become Jennings County.  During the War of 1812, Vawter served as part of the Indian Rangers and gained election as a colonel in the Jennings County militia in 1817. Vawter also worked as a surveyor and would take long surveying trips during this time.

Platting Vernon

Vawter platted Vernon, Indiana in 1815. By 1816, the new town had three cabins and the town soon grew. Vawter built the first schoolhouse in Jennings County and he organized the first Baptist Church in 1816. He gave every third lot to the new town. Polly Smith Vawter died in 1825 and John married her sister, Jane. Jane passed away in 1826. There were no children born to John and Jane, however Ruth Minton later. They would have three children. Ruth died in 1850 and John married Martha Pearce, with whom he had one daughter. A falling stack of lumber killed Martha in 1892.

Vawter served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1831 until 1835 and in the Indiana Senate in 1836. He played a role in getting the 1836 Mammoth Internal Improvements Act passed while in the Senate. Vawter moved to Morgan County in 1848 and founded Morgantown.

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February 17, 1782 - Colonel Robert Morgan Evans Born

Hugh McGary Jr. purchased 440 acres of land for a settlement on March 27, 1812. He named the new town McGary's Landing. He changed the name in 1814 to attract more settlement. The new name, Evansville, he chose in honor of Colonel Robert Morgan Evans.

Colonel Robert Morgan Evans (February 17, 1782 – December 14 1842)

The son of James Evans, Sr. and Elizabeth McMillan Evans, Robert was a native of Frederick County, Virginia. After migrating to Paris, Kentucky, he married Jane Trimble in 1803. A year later, the couple moved to Princeton, in the Indiana Territory. Four years later Evans moved to Vincennes to open a tavern. During the War of 1812, he joined the militia at the rank of Captain. After the war, he received a promotion to brigadier general and returned to his original home in the Indiana wilderness. The voters elected him as the county clerk of Knox County, then to the Territorial Legislature. Around 1820 he moved to the McGary's settlement, which McGary had named after him. When the Harmonists began their experiment at New Harmony, he moved to join that community. When that experiment ended, he moved back to Evansville. The voters elected him to the Indiana House of Representatives. While in the legislature, he served as the Speaker of the House.

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September 10, 1782 - John Ketcham Born

John Ketcham (1782-1865)

Keziah Pigmon Lewis Ketchem presented her husband, Daniel Ketcham, with their son on September 10, 1782 in Washington County, Maryland. The family migrated to Shelby County, Kentucky in 1784, where his Daniel built a fort, which the locals called Ketcham's Station. John married Elizabeth Pearey in 1802, with whom he had twelve children.

Move to Jackson County, Indiana

The couple migrated to Jackson County, Indiana in 1811. Native attacks had become a threat in the area, so Ketchem joined the Indiana Rangers and constructed a fort on his land, which was between Fort Vallonia and Huff's Fort. These outposts gave protection to the settlers during attacks, which were common during this time. The settlers generally worked their land during the daylight hours and slept nights within the confines of the forts. During the years, 1812 and 1813 Ketchem spent long periods on patrol and away from his family. During these campaigns, he gained the reputation as a fierce fighter. Gov. William Henry Harrison commissioned him as colonel in a regiment of the state's militia.

Monroe County

John moved to Harrodsburg, Indiana in 1818, where he built a gristmill on Clear Creek. Before leaving Jackson County, he sold the county 153 acres of land and donated a block to the county to use as the courthouse. During his time in Monroe County, he helped design the first courthouse and gained election to the Indiana Legislature. He also served as the first trustee for Indiana Seminary, which later became Indiana University. He also participated in the election of Andrew Jackson as elector in 1836. His remains lie in the Ketcham Family Cemetery, still maintained by Ketchem family members.

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November 12, 1782 - William Hendricks Born

William Hendricks (November 12, 1782 – May 16, 1850)

The son of Abraham and Ann Jamison Hendricks, William was native to Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. He attended common school with future Indiana governor Jonathan Jennings. He enrolled in Jefferson College, where he studied until 1810, then moved to Ohio. He read law at Cincinnati and gained admittance to the bar. He then moved to Madison, in the Indiana Territory in 1813, a town he made his home the remainder of his life.

The Printer, the Politician

Hendricks bought a printing press and set up the second newspaper in Madison, The Western Eagle. He and Ann Parker Paul, the daughter of the founder of Madison, married. The couple would have two sons together, both of whom died in the Civil War. He gained election to the Territorial Assembly, sat on the 1816 Constitutional Convention in Corydon and became the third governor of Indiana in 1822. He would also serve in the United States House of Representative and the Senate. Hendricks took sick while he supervised the construction of the family vault. He passed away later the same day, May 16, 1850.

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February 01, 1783 - Site for Clark's Grant Indiana Selected

The Virginia House of Burgesses had granted Clark and his men 150,000 acres of land in what is now southern Indiana as payment for his services during the Revolutionary War on January 2, 1781. The Assembly appointed ten commissioners, one of whom was George Rogers Clark, to apportion the land out to Clark and his men and to plat a town in the tract. The commissioners met on February 1, 1783 at Louisville to choose the site, which began at a spot south of the Falls of the Ohio and ran upriver to a point that would make the width of the tract equal to its length. The committee allotted 500 acres for a town they named Clarksville.

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April 08, 1783 - Jacob Whetzel Born - Whetzel Trace

A man named Jacob Whetzel cut a road through the forest, beginning in 1818. Starting at Toner's Tavern in current Laurel, Indiana, the road cut into the lands of the New Purchase in central Indiana

Jacob Whetzel (Sep. 16, 1765 - Jul. 2, 1827)

Born near Big Wheeling Creek in West Virginia, Whetzler served in the Indian wars in West Virginia and Ohio, fighting under Generals William Henry Harrison and Arthur St. Clair. After the wars, he, his son Cyrus and four other men he hired cut a trail through the forests. His grave is in MacKenzie Cemetery, in Morgan County.

Edward Toner (April 8, 1783 - February 18, 1867)

Born in Lycoming Co., Pennsylvania to a father who came from Somerset, Ireland during the Revolutionary years, Edward moved to Franklin County, Indiana. Toner and his wife settled in a town named Somerset, a town he founded and named for his father's Irish home. He established the tavern that served as the trailhead for Whetzler's Trace.

New Purchase

The lands acquired from the Miami tribe by the terms of the Treaty with the Miami, 1818 (Treaty of St. Mary's), are referred to as the New Purchase. Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass, and Benjamin Parke acting as representatives of the United States signed a treaty with the Miami nation on October 6, 1818. As per terms of the treaty, the Miami has ceded a vast area in central Indiana to the United States. The United States agreed to pay the Miami tribe fifteen thousand dollars a year, erect a gristmill and one sawmill. They would also provide a blacksmith and pay one hundred sixty bushels of salt a year to the tribe. After the agreement was reached, Whetzler cut the trace into the new lands and founded a small settlement of his own.

Excerpted from the author's book

Exploring Indiana’s Historic Sites, Markers & Museums– Southeast Edition

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July 02, 1783 - Virginia Relieves George Rogers Clark of his Command

Virginia Governor Patrick Henry had authorized George Rogers Clark’s campaign into the Illinois Country, later called the Northwest Territory. Clark had acted under the authority of Virginia and had never been part of the Continental Army. During the war, Clark had served under six Virginia governors. Governor Benjamin Harrison, the father of future Northwest Territory Governor William Henry Harrison, relieved George Rogers Clark of his command on July 2, 1783. The war effort had exhausted the financial resources of Virginia, so as hostilities wound down during the later stages of the Revolutionary War, Virginia had few resources.

Financial Straits

Clark had commanded the force that took the Illinois country from the British and as the commander, he had signed the requisitions for supplies that the force needed to operate during the campaign. On January 2, 1781, Virginia had granted Clark's men 150,000 acres on the north side of the Ohio River that included Clark's fort at the Falls of the Ohio. This land would form the foundation for the first settlements into what is now the State of Indiana. The Virginia legislature sent him a letter expressing sincere gratitude for his services; however, the financially exhausted Virginia did not offer to pay the expenses for the expedition that Clark had incurred. Thus, as his service to Virginia ended, the thirty-year-old George Rogers Clark found himself without employment and with no money. The government would not offer him a pension until five years before his death. It would take thirty years, after he had died, for the government to award him thirty thousand dollars for his services. The land-rich cash-poor Clark, whose share of the 150,000-acre grant was 8049 acres, would live in the area for most of the remainder of his life.

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September 03, 1783 - Treaty of Paris signed - American War of Independence Over

Tireless and crafty American negotiators John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay concluded discussions and signed the treaty that officially ended the American Revolution on September 3, 1783.

The key parts of the treaty included:

Great Britain recognized that the thirteen colonies were free and independent

Established the new nation's boundaries - including the lands of the Illinois Country north of the Ohio River

Granted fishing rights to United States fishermen in the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence

Recognition of debts to creditors by all parties

The United States Congress would attempt to get state legislatures to compensate British loyalists for land and property confiscated during the war

Prevent future confiscations of Loyalist wealth

Return all prisoners of war

Britain and United States receive perpetual access to the Mississippi River

Treaty must be ratified within sixty days of signing

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March 1, 1784 - Virginia Cedes Claim to Virginia Territory to United States

After a legal tug of war and many compromises, Virginia ceded the lands that became the Northwest Territory to the United States. The struggle had imperiled the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and threatened to turn the newly independent colonies into a struggle for land and power. Because of the cession, Maryland became the thirteenth state to ratify the Confederation and set the stage for Congress to form the Northwest Territory and eventual admittance of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota as states on equal footing with the original thirteen states.

Maryland Stalls Ratification

During the Revolutionary War, the Federal Government ran up debts of almost eight million dollars, a staggering sum for that day. The various States also had debts due to the war. Many of the States held claims to the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. New York and Virginia had the largest claims. However, Massachusetts, Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia also had extensive holdings. These claims totaled more than 222 million acres, a huge expanse.

Virginia’s Huge Advantage

Maryland's chief complaint was that these states held a huge advantage over the landless states. This was because they could sell these lands to pay their debts. Marylanders felt that landless states like Maryland would have to levy heavy taxes to pay theirs off, stifling their growth.

Maryland feared that land rich states could operate with out any taxes, relying on the sale of these western lands for revenue. Maryland's residents would flee to the tax-free states. The impasse lasted almost four years.

Royal Charters

Virginia's claims originated in the second Royal Charter, granted by King James I. In it, he granted Virginia the lands of Maine south to the current North Carolina/South Carolina border. The lands were to extend from sea to sea, west and northwest. this grant extended all the way to the Pacific Ocean, a staggering expanse of land. Revisions to this grant occurred over the years, but by the time of the Revolution, they still included lands claimed by Pennsylvania, New York and other colonies. When Virginian George Rogers Clark conquered Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia and other western outposts, he strengthened Virginia's claims to these regions. The Treaty of Paris had cut off the boundaries of the new nation at the Mississippi River. This still left Virginia and the other states with a vast territory to squabble over.

The Compromise

Congress and the states worked tirelessly to resolve the problems. New York, in a show of good faith, abandoned its land claims on January 17, 1780. Virginia followed suit on January 2, 1781, but they laid down conditions under which they would make it official. They wanted the Continental Congress to reimburse Virginia for the cost of George Rogers Clark's expedition, affirm all boundaries, affirm Virginia land claims in the disputed territories and reject all private claims in the cession area. This satisfied Maryland, which ratified the Articles on January 30, 1781. Congress did not accept the conditions, because many of the states still maintained their claims west of the Mississippi River. It took more negotiations to work out the problems and once again, Virginia renewed its offer on October 20, 1783, accepting Congress' recommendations. Congress accepted Virginia's cession on March 1, 1784. They had set the stage for the formation of the Northwest Territory and westward expansion.

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March 27, 1784 - Jonathan Jennings Born

Jonathan Jennings, Indiana's First Governor was born on March 27, 1784.

Jonathan Jennings (March 27, 1784 – July 26, 1834)

Jonathan Jennings became the sixth child of Jacob and Mary Kennedy Jennings when he was born in New Jersey. He attended grammar school at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and studied law at Washington, Pennsylvania. He immigrated to the Indiana Territory in 1806 and became a lawyer in Jeffersonville, later moving to Vincennes. There were not enough clients in the new territory to make a living, so he served in various government offices and participated in several land speculation deals. These deals brought him some wealth. He and Territorial Governor Benjamin Harrison had a series of political disputes after Jennings became a clerk at Vincennes University.

Election to Congress

As a territory, the Indiana Territory was entitled to non-voting representation in Congress. Jennings gained election to the Eleventh Congress in 1809. In 1815, Jennings introduced a petition for Statehood to Congress. The 1815 census indicated that the population exceeded the 63000 requirement laid down by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Congress passed the Enabling Act on April 11, 1816, authorizing Indiana's authority to form a government. .

Constitutional Convention

He became a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Corydon in June 1816. Jennings led the movement to ban slavery in the state. In this endeavor, he succeeded. The convention adjourned on June 29 and Jennings announced his candidacy for governor. He used the slogan No Slavery in Indiana during his campaign.

Governor Jennings

Jennings beat the other candidate, the former pro slavery Territorial Governor Thomas Posey handily. He served as governor for two terms, and returned to Congress as Indiana's elected representative in 1822. Jennings retired to his Charlestown home in 1831 after leaving Congress. He died at his Charlestown farm of a heart attack.

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April 23, 1784 - Land Ordinance of 1784

The Land Ordinance of 1784 created an orderly procedure for the United States to deal with the lands west of the Allegheny Mountains that opened up by the compromises of 1781, 1782 and 1783 that led to the ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1784.

Land Ordinance of 1784

Thomas Jefferson wrote the draft for the Land Ordinance of 1784. His draft included several important points:

The new states shall remain forever a part of the United States of America.

They shall bear the same relation to the confederation as the original states.

They shall pay their apportionment of the federal debts.

They shall in their governments uphold republican forms.

After the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of them

The proposed names of these states were Cherronesus, Assenisippia, Metropotamia, Sylvania, and Pelisipia

Passage

Congress considered Jefferson's draft and adopted it on April 23, 1784 after striking the slavery prohibition and the proposed names for the new states. This ordinance prepared the way for the Ordinance of 1785 that would provide a system for surveying the lands.

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June 03, 1784 - First American Regiment Established

General George Washington had bid farewell to his officers after the Confederation Congress disbanded the Continental Army on December 4,