Locating on Back Creek
Three of the First Settlers on Back Creek
Reading from left to right the men shown in the above picture are Daniel Winslow, Henry Winslow and Seth Winslow. They are the sons of Joseph Winslow, who entered land along Back Creek on December 28, 1829. Joseph Winslow founded the Society of Friends in Fairmount Township. For a short time after the settlement, according to Levi Winslow, son of Henry Winslow, Back Creek was known as Winslow Creek. Joseph Winslow, who was a plain, unassuming man, protested against the idea of calling this steam after his family for the reason that it appeared to him like exalting his own relatives over others equally entitled to consideration. Out of deference to his wishes, and upon his earnest solicitation, the name Winslow was dropped and it was called Back Creek, after a stream by that name in North Carolina, his old home. It has ever since been known as Back Creek. The sturdy men whose likenesses are shown above bore well their part in the primitive days of the Township.
Back Creek rises in Madison County, entering Fairmount Township in Section 6, and has a general northerly course, bearing a little to the east, entering Mill Township a little west of the half-mile corner on the north side of Section 17, emptying into the Mississinewa River at a point northeast of Jonesboro. The upper portion of the stream was, in 1829, very flat and rather marshy. It was cut wider and deeper about 1856. This was the first improvement of any extent done in the county. It worthy of note that this work was carried on by private enterprise. The lasting benefits far exceeded expectations, both as to land drained and made tillable and as to the public welfare generally. This locality had been a series of beaver ponds. A channel was opened and a crude system of drainage introduced. This enabled farmers to raise grain and grass on soil where cattle had mired during the first settlement along the creek. The higher land and ground father north were first choice for farming.
Joseph Winslow, on December 28, 1829, entered the northwest quarter of Section 17, the farm now owned by Ancil Winslow. On the same date Matthew Winslow, son of Joseph, entered the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 17, the farm now partly owned by John A. Jones and partly by John Devine.
Seth Winslow, another son of Joseph, on the same date entered the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 20. This farm was later owned by Mrs. Ruth Winslow Elliott, a daughter.
Henry Winslow, another son, settled on Section 17.
Exum Newby, on December 28, 1829, entered the southwest quarter of Section 17. This land is now owned by the heirs of Lewis Fankboner.
These men came from Randolph County, North Carolina. They formed the nucleus for a settlement which grew in numbers and prospered. They cherished high ideals. They possessed rugged characters and robust physiques. They were hopeful of the future. They ere cheerful and they were helpful. They were made of the kind of material that did not hesitate to brave hardships and to surmount obstacles. They "toiled and suffered and died that we might inherit the promise."
Among others who came in the early part of the thirties and entered land were:
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Charles Baldwin, August 4, 1830
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Solomon Thomas, August 9, 1830
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Iredell Rush, March 16, 1831
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John Benbow, November 30, 1831
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Nathan Morris, April 9, 1832
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Thomas Morris, April 9, 1832
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Thomas Harvey, October 10, 1832
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Jesse Harvey, October 10, 1832
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Henry Osborn, August 27, 1833
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Thomas Baldwin, October 7, 1833
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Daniel Baldwin, December 16, 1833
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Benjamin Benbow, December 16, 1833
A majority of these men entered land on Back Creek. Most of them came from North Carolina. All but two were of pious Quaker ancestry, and adhered strictly to the doctrines and discipline of the Quaker faith.
It may be remarked, by way of digression, that by way of digression, that when the writer began his research for material for this narrative, he encountered a fact which seemed to him particularly significant. Nathan Morris, one of the pioneers whose name has been mentioned, was the father of twenty-two children. He was twice married. His first wife was the mother of fifteen children, and his second wife gave birth to seven. Carrying the inquiry a little farther, it was learned that the elder daughter, then living, at the age of eighty-two, was the mother of nine, seven of whom survived to marriageable age. To seven sons an daughters, collectively, were parents of seven children, six sons and one daughter. At this rate of retrogression, numerically, if it be indefinitely maintained, Nathan Morris, father of the original family of twenty-two, should he return within two or three generations, would find progeny practically extinct.
After the year 1833 the country was settled up rapidly.
In 1835, Dugan Rush, Thomas Ratliff, William Payne, Clarkson Wilcuts, Timothy Kelley, Elijah Lucas, Lewis Moorman, James S. Wilson, Bingham Simons, Nathan Dicks, John Weston, Charles Hinshaw, Solomon Parsons, Franklin Davis, John Lee, Jr., John Lee, Sr., and Jonathan Wilcuts entered land.
In 1836 came Henry Harvey, Thomas Winslow, Thomas Edgerton, William Osborn, Eli Moorman, Charles Smith, Otho Selby, Wm. H.H. Reeder, Lewis Harrison, Harvey Davis, Jabez Moore, John Frankboner, William Leach, Jonathan Reeder, David Stanfield, Moses Benbow, Lancaster Bell, Carter Hasting, Joel Hollingsworth, William Harvey, David Bates and Lewis Jones.
In 1837, Phineas Henley, Peter Rich, David Lewis, Morris Payne, Joseph Weston, Sr., Amaziah Beeson, John Baldwin, Thomas Osborn, James W. Davis and Henry Simons entered land.
In 1838, Nathan Davis came to cast his fortunes with the people of the new country, and in 1839 Charles Beeson followed.
Source: The Making of a Township, being an account of the early settlement and subsequent development of Fairmount Township, Grant County, Indiana 1829-1917.