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Sullivan County Courthouse
My name is Mark Hill and I'm the county host for Sullivan County, Indiana. Please feel free to email me with any questions or if you'd like your data added to the site.
On 25 February 1779 Col. George Rogers Clark captured Fort
Sackville at Vincennes from the British. About six miles west at
Pointe Coupee on the Wabash River on 2 March 1779, Capt. Leonard
Helm commanding three boats and 50 volunteers from Vincennes
captured a reinforcement fleet of seven boats carrying 40 soldiers
and valuable supplies and Indian trade goods. This small naval
battle completed the destruction of British military strength in the
Wabash Valley.
The county's first settlement occurred between 1808 and 1812, by a
religious society of celibates known as Shakers. The 400 members of
this communal group occupied 1,300 acres, seven miles west of
Carlisle.
General William Henry Harrison's army made its camp in Sullivan
County at Big Springs on September 29, 1811. Harrison used Benjamin
Turman's fort as his headquarters. With spring water available, it
was an ideal location for 1000 men, including 160 dragoons and 60
mounted riflemen. A Kentucky soldier killed a fellow Kentuckian,
Clark, either accidentally or in a grudge fight. The deceased was
buried at the top of a hill that became the Mann Truman Cemetery.
General Harrison and his troops continued north of the Wea Indian
Trail to build Fort Harrison and then proceeded to the Battle of
Tippecanoe.
A War of 1812 military action occurred in September 1812, three
miles WSW of Sullivan County. While escorting supplies from Fort
Knox near Vincennes to Fort Harrison at Terre Haute, Sergeant Nathan
Fairbanks and approximately a dozen soldiers were ambused, and most
killed by Indians.
In 1815, Carlisle was founded. Sullivan County was formed in 1817.
It was named for Daniel Sullivan, said by some sources to have been
a Revolutionary War general killed by Native Americans while
carrying a dispatch between Fort Vincennes and Louisville.
A log courthouse in Merom served as Sullivan County's first county
seat from 1819-1842. Merom was an important river port and a spot on
the stage route known as The Olde Harrison Trail. William Henry
Harrison's troops camped near her on their 1811 march to the Battle
of Tippecanoe.
Pioneer heroine of abdominal surgery Jane Todd is buried in Sullivan
County. Born in Virginia in 1763, she and her husband, Thomas
Crawford, moved to Green County, Kentucky, in 1805. Suffering from a
huge abdominal tumor, she rode 60 miles to Danville, Kentucky, to
submit to an operation never before performed. On December 25, 1809,
Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed this, the first ovariotomy, in his
home. The ordeal lasted 25 minutes. There was no anesthesia. Mrs.
Crawford recovered completely and years later came to Graysville to
live with her son, Thomas, a Presbyterian minister. She died in 1842
at age 78. The restored McDowell home in Danville, Kentucky is a
surgical shrine.
Sullivan was founded in 1853 and became the county seat. Dedicated in
1862, Union Christian College served as a preparatory school and
college until 1924. In 1936 it became Merom Institute, a rural
enrichment center. Now owned by the United Church of Christ, it
serves as a camp, conference and retreat center. Numerous violent
conflicts erupted in Sullivan County during the American Civil War
over differing war sentiments. On July 14, 1864, anti-war Democrat
John Drake was fatally shot at a community picnic near here.
Organized nationally to bring culture to rural communities, Merom's
10-day religious and educational Chautauqua event featured concerts,
debates, plays and lectures. Carrie Nation, William Jennings Bryan,
William Howard Taft, Warren G. Harding and Billy Sunday were among
the speakers here.
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MAY 2024: Biographies of
Harriet Moore Brooks, Nathan Hinkle, Mr. and Mrs. William
McGrew, John Tipton, B. F. Julian, Mary Jane Beckett, Mrs.
Lucy Payne, Sarah A. E. Hoggat, Mr. and Mrs. Parmenas
Stutsman, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Morris, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph
Asbury
DECEMBER 2023: partial listing of 1820 Census, partial list of marriage licenses Feb 1891 - Apr 1891 FEBRUARY 2023: Obituaries for Ruby Glenn Charleton, Mrs. Wesley Bennett, & Ralph Wheeler; Marriages of Lowry-Riggs & Thompson-Fletcher; Sick List Items of A.V. Minnich & Charles Corbin; Birth Announcement of Wauneta Bragdon & Marriage License of Lowry/Riggs. DECEMBER 2022: Obituaries for George Alsop, Oral Wayne Stoops, George McHenry, Glenn Charleton; Gossip/Visiting News - Marguerite Owens hosts party; Marriages - Barker-Wolfe; Community News - Rosie Van Vieck honored; Real Estate Transfers for December 29, 1923. NOVEMBER 2021: Obituaries for Antoinette D. Leach, Death Certificate for Ada Barmes MARCH 2021: Marriage Licenses from January 12 & 19, 1900; Obituary of Anna Price; Court Notes from January 19, 1900; Sharpe-Asbury marriage; Theora Jane Barden & Lena Barnaby Death Certificates. JANUARY 2021: Crime News: Filling Station Robbed, Harrison Atchison Liquor Charges; School News: SHS/Princeton Game; Obituaries of Vince Minich, Orlando Ellis, Mrs. E. B. Hutchison; Community News: Historical Society aritcle; Gossip/Visiting News; Birth News: Betty Jean Turpen, Boy Owens, Ernestine Joetta Bowling, Billy Woodard SEPTEMBER 2019: Obituariesfor Mrs. E.C. Dodds, Mrs. Talitha Stark and Mrs. Griffith, New Marriage Licenses, Birth Announcement for Alice Janet Railsback, Divorces, Marriage of Robert Davis and Zoe Hughes, marriage of Jesse Springer and Hazel Ogle, Maher Family Reunion, Truck Wreck of John Alsman, Jess Wilson, and Donald Dudley, Circuit Clerk News, Real Estate Transfers, and Fire in Merom at Creager Bros. JUNE 2019: Obituary for Eleanor Combes, Estate sale notice for William Combs, and new death certificates added. March 2019: New death certificates for Asbury & Ash February 2019: Articles about: Mr. Dudley accident, Herman Schmidt hardware store fire, Liet. Isaac M. Brown starts new newspaper, Good crop in 1867, Wilson Bailey robbery, John Brock selling impure meat, W.W. Owens missing son, Illinois men shoot chain carrier from surveyor group, John C. Chaney address, Will Hays new Postmaster General, Rev. Robert Montgomery Stevenson obit, Mrs. Beasley bridge party, Ruth Russell guest of Margaret Beasley, Lieut. Russell Thompson enters clothing business with father, Marriages of Hill-Sparks and Merrill-Matthews, 1882 Death Index, Death Certificates for Infant Adams, Infant Akers, Unknown Allspal, Wm. Daniel Alsman, Tilford Alumbaugh, John H. Alumbaugh, Elvina Alumbaugh, Infant Anderson, Selma Arnett, and Simuel Asbury Previous Updates |
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