Timothy C. Stewart was a farmer in Mt. Pleasant Township. He was born in Delaware County 18 Jan 1830 to Timothy Sr. and Catherine Criswell. Timothy Sr. was an early pioneer in Delaware County coming in 1827 according to the Portrait and Biographies of Randolph and Delaware County published 1894. (See below.)
Timothy married Malinda Jones, daughter of Henry and Nancy Hardwick Jones.
Timothy-Stewart-Ancestry-Filie-pg-1 Timothy-Stewart-Ancestry-Filie-pg-2
Charles Brown was born on 6 May 1829 in Wayne County, Indiana to Samuel and Susan (Stout) Brown. Samuel was a German Baptist minister who moved his family to Delaware County in 1828. They were early pioneers in Monroe Township. Charles purchased a farm in Mt. Pleasant Township in 1871 and made a living farming. He married Julia Ann Gibson, daughter of Valentine and Catherine Gibson, also pioneers of Delaware County.
Charles and wife Catherine had the following children:
Another child was born to Charles and Julia: William M Brown. He was born 25 Mar 1864 and lived in Mt. Pleasant Township. He married Elizabeth Rawlings in 1889. William is listed in the Mt. Pleasant census in 1880, 1900, and 1910. (1890 census burned.) He then moved to Allen County between 1910-1920. Why he is not listed among their children is unknown. It may be an oversight or he may have done something bad that was embarrassing to the family.
Charles and his wife, Julie are buried at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Daleville, IN. He was a minister in the German Baptist church (similar to the Amish but not as strict.) They became members of the Christian Church before he died.
To see page 2 of the above PDF from Ancestry.com, hover over the bottom of page 1 and use the down arrows to move to the second page.
Charles Brown and family were part of the Old Brethren Church. It was considered a “near Amish” church. They were often referred to as “dunkers” or “tunkers” because of their practice of full immersion at baptism.
| There are two different types of townships in Indiana. One is called a survey township and is about 6 miles by 6 miles square consisting of sections. Those sections are divided up into sections—half sections, quarter sections, and smaller. The survey township is used for determining land ownership; the second, a civil township, is used for governance. As you can see from the map below, the survey and civil counties do not line up for Mt. Pleasant Township. With the “By the Section” column in the newsletter, we will explore the purchases of land in each section of the township. We will begin with Section 1 on the northwest side of the township and in the next newsletter we will discuss the other section 1 on the northeast side of the township. It was a mad dash by investors and pioneers to buy property after the “New Purchase” of land from Native Americans was surveyed. n the 1908 History of Delaware County, William Harrison Kemper tries to distinguish between those who settled and made contributions and improvements to the community from the speculators who purchased land only to make a profit buying and selling cheap land. John S. Ellis had used this distinction in his 1898 Delaware County History as well. We’ll try to do the same. |
| Section 1, Township 20 (Range 8) northwest side of the township The confluence of Killbuck Creek and Pleasant Run are nearly in the center of this section. As discussed above, the surveyed township sections do not correspond with the civil administration, making two section 1’s in Mt. Pleasant Township. Next newsletter we will look at Section 1, Township 20 on the northeastern part of the township. In 1898, John S. Ellis says “the section has a free gravel pike along the north line, and public roads on the west, through the center and a portion of the south line. This section joins Harrison township on the north and Madison County on the west.” Section 1 (Range 8) was first purchased by John Nelson Groenendyke (Gronendyke, Groenendike, Groenendijck) in 25 May 1832 with his wife, Elizabeth Smelser, 1807-1898. John was a resident of Fayette County, Indiana as early as 1830. He died in Fayette County in 1886. Thirty acres of the land in Section 1 were sold to his brother, James Groenendyke, and James’ wife Charity Durman in 1840. John Nelson Groenendyke (1802-1886) and brother, James Groenendyke, Jr. (1812-1871), were two of the 15 children of James Groenendyke, Sr (1770-1836). John Sr. first married Johanna Antonidis and later, after her death, he married Barbara Buck. Johanna is the mother of these two sons. Their family line goes back to Holland, with Pieter (1645-1699) immigrating to “New Amsterdam” (New York) sometime before 1673. They were a Quaker family and records can be found in the Quaker Meeting records. James’ son, William, was a long-time resident of Mt. Pleasant Township. He married Sarah Elizabeth Stout (1841-1919) and were parents to James Elliott Groenendyke (1867 – 1953), Charles T Groenendyke (1880 – 1937), Cora Jane Groenendyke Hawk (1883 – 1940). The map of 1887 shows section 1 with these occupants: James Groenendyke with 287 acres, George A Jones, Thomas R. Groenendyke 16 acres, J.R. Wellington 25 acres, Alex Stover 48.5 acres, S.B. Mahoney et. al. |
The Yorktown Baseball Team of 1920 had a very good season with 16 wins and 3 losses at the end of the season. The articles mention: Parkison, as shortstop: Barker, pitcher: McKibbean: Jones, pitcher.
Samuel was born on the 29th August 1831 in Reading Township, Perry County, Ohio to Samuel and Ellen Mohler Parkison. He was one of 11 children. Many of the children, including his father and mother, settled in the Mt. Pleasant Township area after they moved from Perry County, Ohio in 1839.
His siblings are as follows:
1) Eli P Parkison 1822-1892. He married Sarah Jones in Delaware County. They were in the but they were in Mt. Pleasant Township in the 1850 census with two children. They later moved to Iowa;
2) Catherine Parkison 1824-1898. She married Emanuel Warfel 1820-1874. They were residents of Yorktown and had at least 9 children.
3) George Wellington Parkison 1826-1898. He married Eliza J Beath. They had ten children and were residents of Yorktown. A full biography will be posted about George;
4) Elizabeth B Parkison 1828-1840. She died at 13.;
5) William “John” Parkison 1829-1862. He married Hetty Staggs. He may have returned to Ohio to come back to Indiana in 1850. He was living with another family at age 20 working as a chair maker. He married Hetty the next year in Delaware County. He was also shown as being with his father in the same census. He was killed in the Civil War, A8 Indiana Infantry.
6) Samuel Mentor Parkison (above and below)
7) Eleanor(a) Parkison 1833-1894. She married James Greggs/Griggis, a blacksmith and they moved to Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
8) Anna Marie Parkison 1836-1888. She married Charles Morris. They lived in Yorktown.
9) Sarah Jane Parkison 1838-1914. She married James D Reynolds. He was a carpenter and served in the Civil War. They lived in Yorktown.
10) Harriet Margaret Parkison 1841-Before 1880. She married John H Adams and they lived in Yorktown. He was a widower in the 1880 census. In 1881 he remarried Hannah Newhouse.
11.) Henry Clay Parkison 1843-1922. He married Christina Fridge. He was a Civil War veteran and they lived in Yorktown. More below.
While doing research for our web page, I found a picture of (what was known to me as) the old Don and Mary Ann (Mackey) Bonnet family home, I played in this home and in the surrounding fields when I was a child. The house sits on the east side of Yorktown on the north side of Hwy. 32–now surrounded by Grandview Square apartments.
The history of the big old brick house always intrigued me. The photo of the house as posted here was taken in 1888. It was was built by Samuel Mentor Parkison, Jr.
A little about Mr. Samuel Mentor Parkison, Jr. not in his two page biography from the book: Portrait and Biographical Record of Delaware and Randolph County published 1894, pages 670-671–see photos for these two pages.
The photo was found behind a cabinet in the attic of the house as the Bonnets were moving out. The photo was given to the YMPHA. The current owners of the house are Paul and Mary Ellen Cox.
The back of the photo is a little light. It says: Joseph Parkison (picking teeth), Samuel Parkison, Margaret Parkison, Lula Parkinson (5 years old), Ella Reed in window, Lottie Pence, neighbor girl.
Ella’s mother, Margaret (Keiger) Parkison, was previously married to Cornelius Reed before he died in 1877. Also note that the 1894 biography in the photos misspelled Lula’s name as “Luo”. Maybe it was a nickname?
The five children of Samuel Mentor Parkison and Eliza Jane Neely are:
1) Emma C. Parkison. (1856-1887). She married Jacob M Koontz (1852-1922);
2) Issac Newton Parkison (1857-1936). He married Amanda Beuoy (1863-1942);
3) John A Parkison, (1859-1927). He married Mary Isabelle Williamson (1859-1908);
4) Oliver Perry Parkison No information of his birth or death. He is referenced in the biography.
5) Joseph A Parkison (1867-1923). He married Melvina S Humbert (1871-1947)
The sixth child was the only child from Samuel Mentor Parkison and his second wife, Margot Keiger.
6) Lula Parkison (1883-1976). She married James Monroe Fitch (1871-1957).
Samuel’s brother, George W. Parkison also had a featured biography in the 1894 book. I will post information about George and his family in a different post.
About the map:
This is a small clip from the 1887 Atlas of Delaware County, Indiana showing where the Samuel Mentor Parkison, Jr. property was situated in Mt. Pleasant Township.
On the map, if you look under the name of Elizabeth Wilson, you will see the word YORKTOWN PIKE. This is the Yorktown toll road that later became State Highway 32. Finding that might help get your bearings on the map.Yorktown Pike dissects Parkison‘s property.
In his 1894 biography, it was written that he purchased his first property in 1857 and later purchased the Dragoo Farm. He bought additional real estate “from time to time until he became a possessor of a large amount of real estate”. He sold all but the 30 acres on which the house sat, much of it to the Western Development Company (WDC) for a nice profit.
The WDC was responsible for the building of the West Muncie development. Had there not been a national economic depression in the early 1890’s, Yorktown would have be called “Old Town” and incorporated into the West Muncie project. (Much more about this will be elsewhere on our web site.) The biography also says that Parkison bought the “Gilbert farm of 208 acres” and that it was later known as the Wilson farm. You can see adjoining the Parkison property the 208 acres owned by Elizabeth Wilson. You can see Gilbert properties north, west and east of the Wilson farm.
The Parkison house is shown on Yorktown Pike marked with a square and “Res” denoting his residence. His brother, George W. Parkison owned about 200 acres north of White River and a little west of downtown. I’ll write more on George Parkison in a different post.
If you want to see the whole map of Mt. Pleasant Township, you can go to this link at BSU Archives: https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/InHisAtls/id/1350 Look at the earlier post to see the house that started this line of research.
PLEASE: Add, correct, and ask questions about the post.
Notes:
There are some advertisements for the Delaware County Fair in which Samuel Parkison‘s name appeared as one of the organizers.
9132 W Smith St., Yorktown, Indiana 47396
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Karen Strahan Brown Good, President email: karen.good@yorktownhistory.com
Phone: 765-729-0093
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