Individual Details
Moses L. PIERSON
( - )
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES
(Re: History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc. Indianapolis , 1914; pages 143 to195
WILMINGTON TOWNSHIP
Pages 143 to 149
The township of Wilmington lies in the east central portion of the county, and is bounded on as follows: On the north by Franklin township, on the east by Stafford, on the south by Concord, and on the west by Grant and Union. S. B. Ward, a pioneer minister, thus described the township: "It is a second rate township in quality of soil, taking it together, yet it has some first rate land in it, especially along ‘Big Run.’ A considerable stream running across the north side of the township. For fine oak timber, there is no township in the county that surpasses it." The timber, except the second growth, is largely cleared away now, and the land has developed into very fair agricultural ground. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Vandalia of the Pennsylvania system, and the Wabash railroads all cross the township, meeting at Butler, in the northeast corner.
ORGANIZATION
Wilmington township was organized on September 5, 1837, at the first regular meeting of the board of commissioners. The board then consisted of Peter Fair, Samuel Widney and A. F. Beecher, who "ordered that the congressional township 34 north, range 14 east, be and it is hereby, organized as a civil township, to be known by the name of Wilmington Township." They also directed "that Bryon Bunnel be appointed supervisor for the road district No. 1, compromising the whole of Wilmington township and all the lands residing in the said township shall be allotted to the same district." In March, 1838, fractional township 34 north, range 15 east (now Stafford), was added to Wilmington for judicial and civil purposes, and a new election was ordered the first Monday in April following, at the house of Ira Allen, with Milton A. Hull as inspector.
EARLY SETTLEMENT
Wilmington township was not settled in the year 1835, no white man yet having seen fit to throw up a cabin there. The year 1836 saw the building of the first log cabin by Byron Bunnel; Mr. Lonsberry’s house was the next, and George Egnew’s next. In 1837 these cabins were in the portion allotted to Wilmington when the county was organized and township lines established. Two of these cabins were situated on the Newville and Auburn road, and one was called at an early date the Bunnel place.
The first resident settler of the township was undoubtedly Ira Allen, who came in the very early months of 1837 and pitched a cloth tent on an oak hill on the east side of the township. In that tent he remained several weeks until he constructed a commodious house, composed of oak logs hewed square and notched down closely. His hardships in clearing his land and building a home for himself made him a broken man. As an instance of these hardships that ruined his health, the following is quoted verbatim from "Pioneer Sketches:"
"Some time in October, 1837, Mr. Allen went out to hunt his cattle, of which he had a number, and after finding them far out in the apparently interminable woods and swamps to the north and west, he started home with them. On the way one of his work oxen mired down. After laboring hard in the mud and water for some time, --the other cattle in meantime getting scatted in the woods again—he started for his tent, but failed in reaching it, and lay out through the night, cold and frosty as it was, and wet and muddy as he was. The next day John N. Miller, and early settler of the same township, while making his way through the wilderness to the land he had entered, heard someone hail him away out where he was not looking for a human being, and on going where the voice came from, he found Mr. Allen and his boys laboring to get the ox out of the mire, it having lain there all night an until the afternoon of the next day. They had forgotten to bring an ax, and had to cut a pry by bending down a sapling and cutting it off with a pocket knife, while the fibers of the wood were thus strained. Getting this pry under the beast they finally raised him from his sunken condition, but had to roll him several times over before he could find firm footing."
The large block house erected by Mr. Allen was long used as a meeting-house as well as a dwelling, and here in an early day was held many a prayer meeting or Sunday worship.
Other settlers who came in 1837 were: Lot B. Coe, William P. Means, Charles Handy, Dr. Sawyer and several more. The pioneers began to get within striking distance of each other, as it were, and a means of social intercourse were established, thus making the nights something more than dark, gloomy spaces of time, with the mingled howls of the wind and prowling wolves. Charles Handy was the first blacksmith in the township, and settled at what was later called Handy’s Corners. Amos Lonsberry was the first white child born in the township. At the close of 1837 twenty-two families were settled within the boundaries of Wilmington township. The first marriages was that of Dan Coats and Mary Allen. Washington Robinson performed the ceremony in January, 1836.
FIRST OFFICERS
The first election was held at Ira Allen’s, on the farm afterwards owned by William Crooks. Says a pioneer: "As our township was in limited circumstances as to population, and most of them had the ague, and it took two of them to make a shadow and even then they could not go to the polls, we had to apply to Stafford township to help us fill up the board, and both townships held elections together at the above place and elected the several officers. Among them were William P. Means, for county assessor, and Mr. Lonsberry, for school commissioner. I don’t recollect the balance of the officers that were elected in those days; we had not much use for squires nor constables, but I think Ariel Walden was elected associate judge for the court of this county. The first justice of the peace elected was a Mr. PIERSON."
Early justices of the peace were: Charles D. Handy, Moses L. PIERSON, , Daniel B. Mead, P. B. Nimmons, John Moore, Dr. Madden, Ezra Dickinson, Richard Worth, L. A. Benedict and H. C. Colgrove. Constables were: Daniel Coats, H. N. Mathews, Jesse Wood, William K. Streight, William Mathews, William Campbell, Edsall Cherry, Noble Cherry, Peter Kester, A. F. Packer, Hiram Freeman, N. W. Delano, Isaac Eakright, W. D. Armstrong, Joseph Norris and John Weaver. Trustees prior to 1860 were: John Helwig, M. L. Pierson, Collins Roberts, Joseph Nodine, Joseph Totten, Asa Sawyer, S. B. Ward, Thomas Fosdick, E. W. Fosdick, Edgar Treman, William Maxwell, Nelson Smurr, Andrew Smith, William H. Thomas, Dr. Madden, Lot B. Coe, N. G. Sewall, G. Maxwell, W. K. Streight, P. B. Nimmons, W. D. Armstrong, and A. Cochran.
(Re: History of DeKalb County, Indiana; B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc. Indianapolis , 1914; pages 143 to195
WILMINGTON TOWNSHIP
Pages 143 to 149
The township of Wilmington lies in the east central portion of the county, and is bounded on as follows: On the north by Franklin township, on the east by Stafford, on the south by Concord, and on the west by Grant and Union. S. B. Ward, a pioneer minister, thus described the township: "It is a second rate township in quality of soil, taking it together, yet it has some first rate land in it, especially along ‘Big Run.’ A considerable stream running across the north side of the township. For fine oak timber, there is no township in the county that surpasses it." The timber, except the second growth, is largely cleared away now, and the land has developed into very fair agricultural ground. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Vandalia of the Pennsylvania system, and the Wabash railroads all cross the township, meeting at Butler, in the northeast corner.
ORGANIZATION
Wilmington township was organized on September 5, 1837, at the first regular meeting of the board of commissioners. The board then consisted of Peter Fair, Samuel Widney and A. F. Beecher, who "ordered that the congressional township 34 north, range 14 east, be and it is hereby, organized as a civil township, to be known by the name of Wilmington Township." They also directed "that Bryon Bunnel be appointed supervisor for the road district No. 1, compromising the whole of Wilmington township and all the lands residing in the said township shall be allotted to the same district." In March, 1838, fractional township 34 north, range 15 east (now Stafford), was added to Wilmington for judicial and civil purposes, and a new election was ordered the first Monday in April following, at the house of Ira Allen, with Milton A. Hull as inspector.
EARLY SETTLEMENT
Wilmington township was not settled in the year 1835, no white man yet having seen fit to throw up a cabin there. The year 1836 saw the building of the first log cabin by Byron Bunnel; Mr. Lonsberry’s house was the next, and George Egnew’s next. In 1837 these cabins were in the portion allotted to Wilmington when the county was organized and township lines established. Two of these cabins were situated on the Newville and Auburn road, and one was called at an early date the Bunnel place.
The first resident settler of the township was undoubtedly Ira Allen, who came in the very early months of 1837 and pitched a cloth tent on an oak hill on the east side of the township. In that tent he remained several weeks until he constructed a commodious house, composed of oak logs hewed square and notched down closely. His hardships in clearing his land and building a home for himself made him a broken man. As an instance of these hardships that ruined his health, the following is quoted verbatim from "Pioneer Sketches:"
"Some time in October, 1837, Mr. Allen went out to hunt his cattle, of which he had a number, and after finding them far out in the apparently interminable woods and swamps to the north and west, he started home with them. On the way one of his work oxen mired down. After laboring hard in the mud and water for some time, --the other cattle in meantime getting scatted in the woods again—he started for his tent, but failed in reaching it, and lay out through the night, cold and frosty as it was, and wet and muddy as he was. The next day John N. Miller, and early settler of the same township, while making his way through the wilderness to the land he had entered, heard someone hail him away out where he was not looking for a human being, and on going where the voice came from, he found Mr. Allen and his boys laboring to get the ox out of the mire, it having lain there all night an until the afternoon of the next day. They had forgotten to bring an ax, and had to cut a pry by bending down a sapling and cutting it off with a pocket knife, while the fibers of the wood were thus strained. Getting this pry under the beast they finally raised him from his sunken condition, but had to roll him several times over before he could find firm footing."
The large block house erected by Mr. Allen was long used as a meeting-house as well as a dwelling, and here in an early day was held many a prayer meeting or Sunday worship.
Other settlers who came in 1837 were: Lot B. Coe, William P. Means, Charles Handy, Dr. Sawyer and several more. The pioneers began to get within striking distance of each other, as it were, and a means of social intercourse were established, thus making the nights something more than dark, gloomy spaces of time, with the mingled howls of the wind and prowling wolves. Charles Handy was the first blacksmith in the township, and settled at what was later called Handy’s Corners. Amos Lonsberry was the first white child born in the township. At the close of 1837 twenty-two families were settled within the boundaries of Wilmington township. The first marriages was that of Dan Coats and Mary Allen. Washington Robinson performed the ceremony in January, 1836.
FIRST OFFICERS
The first election was held at Ira Allen’s, on the farm afterwards owned by William Crooks. Says a pioneer: "As our township was in limited circumstances as to population, and most of them had the ague, and it took two of them to make a shadow and even then they could not go to the polls, we had to apply to Stafford township to help us fill up the board, and both townships held elections together at the above place and elected the several officers. Among them were William P. Means, for county assessor, and Mr. Lonsberry, for school commissioner. I don’t recollect the balance of the officers that were elected in those days; we had not much use for squires nor constables, but I think Ariel Walden was elected associate judge for the court of this county. The first justice of the peace elected was a Mr. PIERSON."
Early justices of the peace were: Charles D. Handy, Moses L. PIERSON, , Daniel B. Mead, P. B. Nimmons, John Moore, Dr. Madden, Ezra Dickinson, Richard Worth, L. A. Benedict and H. C. Colgrove. Constables were: Daniel Coats, H. N. Mathews, Jesse Wood, William K. Streight, William Mathews, William Campbell, Edsall Cherry, Noble Cherry, Peter Kester, A. F. Packer, Hiram Freeman, N. W. Delano, Isaac Eakright, W. D. Armstrong, Joseph Norris and John Weaver. Trustees prior to 1860 were: John Helwig, M. L. Pierson, Collins Roberts, Joseph Nodine, Joseph Totten, Asa Sawyer, S. B. Ward, Thomas Fosdick, E. W. Fosdick, Edgar Treman, William Maxwell, Nelson Smurr, Andrew Smith, William H. Thomas, Dr. Madden, Lot B. Coe, N. G. Sewall, G. Maxwell, W. K. Streight, P. B. Nimmons, W. D. Armstrong, and A. Cochran.
Families
| Spouse | Lydia FLUENT ( - ) |
| Child | Fannie Louesa PIERSON (1831 - ) |