THE ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES OF INDIANA. COMPILED BY PROF. W. E. HENRY, STATE LIBRARIAN. Allen Jay County Date of County Formation; also the Date of Organization Where Both Were Included in the Same Act. February 7, 1835. December 28, 1818. March 9, 1813. February 10, 1831. January 5, 1821. January 8, 1823. January 26, 1827. December 24, 1827 Session Laws, 1821, p. 67. Session Laws, 1834, p. 44; 1836, p. 57. Session Laws, 1819, p. 95; 1826, p. 12. Session Laws, 1818, p. 103. Session Laws, 1834, p. 45; 1835, p. 48. Territorial Laws, 1813. p. 67. Session Laws, 1826, p. 84; 1827, p. 19. Session Laws, 1822, p. 22. Session Laws, 1834, p. 45; 1835, p. 55. Session Laws, 1835, p. 51; 1836, p.55. Session Laws, 1831, p. 9. Session Laws, 1834; p. 46; 1835, p. 49. Session Laws, 1819, p. 55. Session Laws, 1831, p. 113; 1833, p. 64. Session Laws, 1822, p. 7. Session Laws, 1821, p. 35. Session Laws, 1834, p. 46. Session Laws, 1834, p. 43; 1835, p. 54. Session Laws, 1843, p. 7. Territorial Laws, 1815, p. 57. Session Laws, 1819, p. 11. Session Laws, 1838, p. 76; 1843, p. 10. Session Laws, 1823 (R. S. 1824), p. 113. Session Laws, 1819, p. 95; 1831, p. Session Laws, 1826, p. 14. Territorial Laws, 1810, p. 19. NOTE. It will be noted that about forty counties were formed from the original Knox, and about twenty-seven out of the New Purchase which was divided into Wabash and Delaware Counties, January 22, 1820. *For the facts concerning Clark and Dearborn Counties, I am unable to find Legislative authority. I have taken what is indicated from Z. T. Emerson, in History of Knox County, page 148. † In additition to the facts from Z. T. Emerson, in history of Knox County, p. 148, I have used a date found upon a map of Knox County prepared by Samuel Morrison in October, 1875, and now in the State Library. Inferring from later Legislation, the actual boundary of Knox County seems to have been on the north, the present north lines of the following counties: Parke, Putnam, Monroe, Jackson, Jennings, Fayette and Union, including part of Wayne. The map shows the partial settlement of the State in 1817. The counties named and the Indian Boundary Lines were drawn by John Melish in the year mentioned, the year after the admission of the State into the Union. It will be noticed that several counties are named on the map which did not participate in the Constitutional Convention of 1816, and may not at that date have been fully organized. The dotted lines to the north of these counties show Indian Boundary Lines. Several Indian tribes roamed over two-thirds of the State, and, being heavily timbered, it was their hunting grounds. The chief rivers and their largest tributaries only are shown on the map. ADMISSION OF INDIANA INTO THE UNION. Under the cession of Virginia to the general government, comprising the Northwest Territory, the Ordinance of 1787 provided that it should eventually be divided into not exceeding five States. Beginning with 1800 there were three schemes of the Indiana Territory, which embraced areas now comprised in other States. Indiana Territory, with the lines adjusted as they now comprise the State, was formed in 1808. The memorial of the Territorial Legislature of 1815 asked Congress to admit the State into the Union, representing that there were more than 60,000 free white inhabitants, as had been provided in the territorial ordinance as a condition of Statehood. The census taken by the Legislature showed that there were 63,897 inhabitants, and so Congress provided for a constitutional convention, and the election of delegates thereto occurred May, 1816. The delegates elected to the Constitutional Convention met at Corydon June 10, 1816, the seat of government, and framed the first Constitution of Indiana, completing its work on the 29th of June, and so Indiana became a State in 1816. MEMBERS OF THE FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. Wayne County-Joseph Holman, Patrick Baird, Jeremiah Cox, Hugh Cull. Franklin County-Robert Hanna, Jr., James Brownlee, Enoch McCartey, James Noble, William H. Eads. Dearborn County-Ezra Ferris, Solomon Manwaring, James Dill. Switzerland County-William Cotton. Jefferson County-David H. Maxwell, Samuel Smock, Nathaniel Hunt. Clark County-Jonathan Jennings, Thomas Carr, James Lemon, James Scott, Jno. K. Graham. Harrison County-Dennis Pennington, Daniel C. Lane, Davis Floyd, Patrick Shields, Jno. Boone. Washington County-Jno. DePaw, Samuel Milroy, William Graham, William Lowe, Robert McIntire. Knox County-Jno. Johnson, William Polk, Jno. Badollet, Jno. Benefiel. Gibson County-David Robb, Alexander Devin, James Smith, Frederick Rapp. Posey County-Dan Lynn. Warrick County-Daniel Grass. Perry County-Charles Polk. |