The township of Abington was formed in February, 1837. Although one of
the later organized townships, the eastern part of it is among the
earliest settled portions of the county.
John Endsley, formerly from South Carolina, and in 1805 from Ohio,
settled in what is now the east part of Abington on John's Creek. With
him, from Ohio, came his brother Abraham Endsley, who settled on the
Whitewater, a mile from the mouth of Elkhorn, and two miles from town;
and John Templeton, who settled about fifteen miles south, in now Union
County. John Endsley traveled the distance between South Carolina and
Wayne county seven times; five times on horseback. The farm on which
he settled and died was afterward owned and occupied by his younger son
John until his death in 1870. James, the elder son, resides on the
farm adjoining on the west, being that on which Andrew Endsley had
settled, who was the father of Andrew, Jun., John, Sen., Abraham, Hugh,
Thomas, Samuel, and Peter Endsley.
In 1805 John Cox, from Kentucky, purchased the land of which the site
of the present town of Abington is a part. He died in March, 1811.
His death is said to have been the first in the township. The land was
inherited by his son John, whose sons were Joseph and John. Joseph and
his father laid out the town, the plat of which was recorded December
5, 1817.
Charles Hunt, from North Carolina, settled in the south-east part of
the present township, in the year 1807. His sons, George, John,
William, Smith, Charles, and Stephen G., preceded him the same year.
Jonathan, James, and Timothy, came two or three years later. George
was the first surveyor in the county, and the first clerk of the county
courts. Timothy settled about a mile east of town, where he and his
wife both died. The farm is owned by his sons Charles and Levi, who
live on it, and Andrew, who lives in town. Smith settled in the north
-east part of the township, and died in 1855; Stephen G., near James
Endsley's; John Hunt, north-east of town; lands owned by his sons, Levi
and charles Hunt, and Wilson Hunt.
Henry Fender, from North Carolina, after a sojourn of a year or two
eight miles south of Richmond, with six children, settled in 1810 or
1811, on the farm where his son Henry L. now resides, half a mile
north-west of town, on the Centerville turnpike. He also entered the
land where others of the family afterward settled. His sons were
Jonathan, who removed from the county; Gabriel, who settled a half mile
west of town, and is dead; Jacob, who settled and still lives a mile
and a half from town, on the Centerville turnpike; Littleton, who died
near Kankakee, Ill., and whose sons, John Milton and James H., reside
in the township; Henry L., on his father's homestead; and John H.
Gabriel Fender, brother of Henry, Sen., bought of David Railsback the
farm three-fourths of a mile north-east of town, now owned by Nicholas
Smith. He removed to South Bend.
Thomas Moffitt settled three-fourths of a mile south of town. By a
change in county bounds his farm has been taken into union County. On
it was one of the forts built during the war of 1812, as a means of
protection against the Indians. Another was built on the farm of Wm.
Lewis, about a mile from the former. David Railsback settled near
town in 1807, and died October 17, 1856.
William Dye, from Kentucky, setled, in 1810, one mile south-east of the town.
The following are names of some of the earlier settlers, but the years
in which they respectively settled have not been ascertained:
Thomas Bradbury first settled four miles south-east of the town, now
Union county, afterward two miles north of town; land now owned in part
by Henry paddock. James Lamb, from Scotland, settled, about 1818,
near the mouth of Elkhorn, where now Joseph Boon Lamb resides. he died
in 1841, aged 85. John Lamb, son of James, settled near his father,
where his widow now lives. William, another son, on the farm now
owned by C. C. Beeler, in Boston township. He died at Keokuk, Iowa.
Wm. Jarrett settled about two and a half miles north-west of town; land
now owned by J. W. Robbins, James Jarrett, and Nelson Gable. George
and Levi Jarrett settled near their brother William; and another
brother, Eli, where M. Rank now lives.
David Carson settled in the north-east part of the township, where now
his son David resides. He was son-in-law of Richard Rue, one of the
first three settlers in Wayne county. John Plankenhorn bought of Wm.
James the land now owned by his son, John Plankenhorn. Henry Long
settled where Anderson Sweet lives, two miles north-west of the town.
Edmund Jones, a native of Virginaia, settled early three miles north
-west of the town, now in his 84th year. John Hendricks early owned
the land where now Isam Stevens and John Madden reside.
John Wright settled near the north line of the township, and is still
living, in his 85th year. John Ellis, where H. Wright afterward
settled, on land now owned by Wright's heirs. Spahr entered early
several secitons in the north-west part of the township. On these
lands, at present, are Daniel, John, and Mary Spahr Burris, Joseph D.
Spahr, Samuel Clevenger, Philip Jenkins, and John S. Henwood. Michael
Helms, from Virginia, bought lands in the south-west part of the
township, now principally owned by his son, Isaiah Helms. Thomas
______, where now George Rank resides. Daniel Clevenger, on land now
owned by George Rodenberger, south part of the township; also bought
where Samuel Clevenger, Jun., lives.
In the south-west part of the township are lands now or lately owned by
J. Jones, E. McCashin; in the south part, by D. Lee, S. Dye, A. Dye,
the early settlers on which have not been ascertained.
In the vicinity of the town are lands now or lately owned by I. M. F.
Stevens, P. Slade, L. Manning, M. Manning, D. Weaver, J. Long,
Merriman Brumfield, and others, the names of the first settlers on
which have not been obtained. Nathan, son of David Railsback, Sen.,
(not the first settler,) settled on the land now owned by his heirs,
about two miles north of town.
In the north part of the township the names have not been obtained of
the early settlers on the lands now or lately owned by M. Robbins, J.
R. Meek, J. Crow, J. Frost and J. F. Robbins, R. Stevens, J. M. Snider
and others; also, A. Stinson, J. Stafer, J. Stinson, and S. Stevens in
the western part of the township.
Hugh Endsley, brother of John, Sen., put up the first gristmill (corn-
cracker) on East Fork, a little below the mouth of Elkhorn, in 1808.
Henry Whitinger, a few years after, built there a hewed log one, with
two runs of stones, one for corn and one for wheat. It was afterward
bought by Julius C. Wood, who built a good frame flouring mill, now
owned by his son, Valentine Wood, and standing idle. The second grist
-mill was built about the year 1826, nearly a mile from the village, by
Joseph Cox. He sold it to Rafe Shawmbourie, who put up a better one,
having a run of burr stones, and sold it to Merriman Brumfield, who
built another on or near the same site, with a saw-mill attached.
Another saw-mill was built by Thomas Manning, at Abington, who, some
years after (about 1839) sold it to D. & J. Weaver, who attached a
carding machine and fulling mill, and in 1845 built a large woolen
factory. This proving unprofitable, the building was sold and removed
to the village for a wagon and carriage shop. The same firm built a
large flouring mill a short distance below the old site, also a saw-
mill in 1849, which are now owned by John B. Craft & Co.
The first carding machine - a rude establishment ---- was put up by
Richard Sedgwick and Smith Hunt, at the mouth of Elkhorn. John Brower
next (1824, or about that year,) built a carding and fulling mill near
the north part of the town.
The first merchant in Abington was Moses Cox, son of John Cox, Jun.,
about the year 1818. Some of his earlier successors ---- though,
perhaps, not in the order mentioned, were Samuel Hali, Hafer &
Glanten, Middlecough & Beeks, Bone-brake & Manning. Later, the
following were here as early, at least, as at the dates mentioned:
Whitinger & Matchett, Thomas Ellis, and Michael Donlan & Co., in 1839;
Wm. A. Beeks, Wm. Lipscomb, John Leach, in 1840; Williams & Dunbar, in
1841; James Rubey, Simpson Dye, in 1842; White & Hunt, in 1843; David
M. Dunbar, Whitinger & Dye, E. F. Donlan, 1845. Present merchants,
Joshua Dye, grocer; Haman Dobbs, dry goods.
The first Blacksmith was John Hunt, who was also a gunsmith. His
widow, a daughter of Lazarus Whitehead, is still living, at the age of about 84.
The first Religious Society was the Methodist Episcopal, organized at
an early period of the settlement of the township. Among its early
members were Thomas Moffitt and his wife; John Cox, his wife and son
James; Peter Stevens, a preacher and also the first school teacher,
near Moffitt's; Henry Long, also a preacher, and his wife; Eli and
Clark Penwell, and David Railsback, and their wives; Henry Fender, his
son Jacob, and John Fender, Sen. The first preaching was in dwellings.
Their first meeting-house was a log building on the hill, near the
site of their present brick house.
The United Brethren formed a society about the year 1818. Among their
early members were Isaac Shelby, and exhorter, Thomas Manning, Wm. Dye,
Daniel Clevenger, with their wives, and George Bonebrake, a preacher.
Their first regular preacher is believed to have been John Ross. The
society built a frame house about the year 1828; the present brick
house in 1854-55. This was a well-built house, and its interior was
well and neatly finished. It has, since the above was written, been
nearly or quite destroyed by fire.
As in other places along the Whitewater, rattlesnakes abounded here at
an early day. About a mile above where the town now is, a number of
women who were, on a Sunday, sauntering, for pastime, along the stream,
are said to have killed, with clubs and poles, upward of thirty
rattlesnakes.
The town of Abington was laid out in 1817, by John and Joseph Cox,
proprietors. The certificate of the survey was recorded November 5, 1818.
History of Wayne County, Indiana
Andrew W. young
Pages 144-148
