Isaac & Nancy Gipson

MR. AND MRS. ISAAC GIPSON.

Mr. and Mrs. Gipson, of Sugar Creek Township, were among the first settlers of the above township. They first settled there in the year 1829, have resided there ever since. They enjoy the confidence and respect of the people and have been highly esteemed there for over fifty-five years. They have seen great changes in that time. When they first came to that locality there were no neighbors, nothing but a vast unsettled country. It required pluck and energy to thus make a start in the world. They came determined, however, to do their part, and if work and frugality would give them a home in the future they resolved, in their early life, to have it. Neighbors soon came. The little clearing in the woods soon began to widen out; the sound of the ax and maul was heard in the land. Soon the preacher and the school teacher came, and other signs of civilization. Encouraged thus, our heroic young couple renewed their best energies to the task, at times almost insurmountable. In due course of time children came to bless their wedded life and help them in the future. The little cabin soon proved too small for the accommodation of this pioneer family, and a better one was resolved upon. It was built. Time went on, the settlement improved and neighbors multiplied. The little ones grew up and went to the rude school house. Thus step by step this couple have passed through the varied changes that come and go in so long a time. The little village of Thorntown has grown within their recollection to a little city, with its well built houses, churches, fine residences, etc. The prattling children have grown to manhood and womanhood. Grandchildren’s voices ring out, and take their turn in the whirl of events. To them, however, the scenes of the past fifty-five years have not all been sunshine or sorrow, but rather a "mixed cup," that is given us all on the rugged road of life. Mr. and Mrs. Gipson are living to-day, at their pleasant home, enjoying the repose of age. The past has no doubt had its joys and its sorrows to them. But we will let Mr. Gipson tell it in his own way:

"I was born in Clay County, Ky., February 8, 1816, and am consequently just the age of my adopted state. I came with my parents, William and Nancy Gipson, to Boone County October 20, 1829, first stopping near Jamestown, or rather where Jamestown now stands. On the 28th of October, 1829, John Gipson built the first log cabin in Jamestown. About the 1st of November, 1829, my father moved into a cabin now on the farm of Thomas Gregory. My brother, Jacob Gipson, also came with us. Mary Scott, who became my helpmate through life, was born in Boone County, Ky., October 9, 1814. She came with her parents in 1826 to near Shannondale, Montgomery County. I think that George Harness was the first settler in Thorntown; that was in the spring of 1828. Archibald Scott came next, later in the same season. Jesse Scott came late in the fall, did not stay long, moved to Montgomery County. Joshua Burnham came next; this was in April, 1829. James VanEaton was the next pioneer to come. Merrett McKinsey came about the same time. John Wilkey and Joshua Allen settled in upper Thorntown in the spring of 1829.

"The first child to see the light of day in or about Thorntown was born to Mr. and Mrs. George Harness. This event occurred October 13, 1828.

"The dark angel of death spread its wings over our new settlement for the first time when Jemima Harness died, October 19, 1829. She was buried on the farm now owned by James Hague. There is nothing to mark her resting place but a bunch of brush. The first sermon preached in this locality was by a Presbyterian from Montgomery County; his name was Rev. Thompson, and he preached at James Scott’s house. As deaths and births naturally come, marriages must also happen, so the first ‘two hearts that beat as one’ in this ‘neck o’ woods’ were Ira Burnham and Mariah Sweeney. This joyful event took place in 1831. And as marriages do happen in the course of human events, children come also, and they must necessarily go to school; and the schoolmaster came (he always comes). This time it was Daniel T. Ellis; this was in 1831. The year 1831 was a good year (the writer was born that same year). Oh, yes, Mr. Ellis taught school in a log cabin. The floor was dirt, the window glass was greased paper; yes, and it had a small fireplace eight feet wide. It was a ‘daisy;’ it stood a short distance southeast of Crose’s mills. The first ‘corn cracker’ was built by David Ross on Spring Branch, on his own land, in 1832. The first dry goods sold was by Enoch Davis, in 1830, in a pole cabin on the land now owned by James Hague on Spring Creek. The first goods sold in Thorntown was by Cornelius Westfall, out of a box in his dwelling. I have given you the dates of a few first things in and about Thorntown. I will vouch for dates and names. I would gladly extend my letter, but am unable now to hold a pen any length of time. I am glad you have undertaken the work so much needed. It won’t be long till we old people will be out of the way. It would hardly be right to forget us; we have been through the ‘mill,’ have seen the ‘elephant,’ so to speak, in the wild woods of Boone County. We trust your work may be a success.

"Isaac and Nancy Gipson"
Thorntown, February 7, 1887

Source: "Early Life and Times in Boone County, Indiana," Harden & Spahr, Lebanon, Ind., May, 1887, pp. 287-289
Transcribed by: Julie S. Townsend - June 27, 2007