Freelandville High School - Dutch Echoes Yearbook (Freelandville, IN)

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HISTORY OF WIDNER TUWNSHIP In 1804 Colonel Francxs V1go Commander of the Fort at Vmcennes and Samuel Small who was the government gunsm1th came 1nto th1s part of the country on a deer hunt They notlced the great number of walnut trees and other evldences of f1ne land On theu' return home they spoke of thls 1n the presenee of John W1dner who was engaged m the makmg of shmgles for Governor Harrlson s house When th1s work was f1n1shed he obtamed perm1ss1on from the Governor to make a locat1on of land He selected the land and soon had a l1ttle space cleared and a small cabm ready for h1s famlly They came 1n the fall of 1804 W1dner was the f1rst whlte settler ln the townshlp therefore th1s townshrp was named W1dner W1th the W1dner fam1ly came Andrew Wrlkms a brother m law who made a locat1on d1rectly across the road from Wxdners whlch IS known as the Locatlon Number 2 He soon marr1ed and moved onto h1s land In 1805 several famxlxes were added to the communlty In 1806 Captaln Charles Pork came from Kentucky w1th h1s large famrly The Indlans found east of the MISSISSIPPI Rlver by the f1rst explorers were the d1ffer ent d1v1s1ons of the great tr1be of Algonqums The P1ankashaws occupled the terrltory wh1ch IS now Knox County The 1nd1ans l1v1ng m W1dner Townshlp were a part of this tr1be For protectlon agamst these Indlans several forts were bullt one on John W1dner's place Th1s fort covered th ee fourths of an acre and had h1gh towers on each corner Dur1ng the unsettled condxtlons preceedmg the War of 1812 there were no add1t1ons to the settlements 1n the townsh1p Soon after the end of the war a number of people came from Pennsylvanla Ohlo and Kentucky People were stead1ly gatherlng at the Cross Roads' as the settlement whlch later became Freelandv1lle was formerly called Due to thls fact there was a need for a post offlce In 1856 Dr Freeland a lead1ng c1t1zen of that tlme sent to the government for an appl1cat1on for a post off1ce S1nce the commun1ty had to have some name 1t was called Freelandv1lle In the begmnmg of the E1ghteenth Century when the hardy ploneers began to push thelr way from Kentucky and the Eastern States 1nto thls part of the Indlana Terr1tory there were among them a number of Baptzst people As those people had been accustomed to attendmg church they decrded to organ1ze one of thelr own On the 20th day of May 1809 they organlzed the Mar1ah Creek Church The Mar1ah Creek Baptlst Church rs one of the oldest Bapt1st churches m the state of Ind1ana It IS the oldest Protestant church mn Knox County and 1S now the oldest Bapt1st church wxth a contmuous exlstence ln the State The next church to be organ1zed was the Morr1s Chapel M E Church About twelve members entered th1s organ1zat1on The present church a frame structure was erected 1n 1894 A well kept cemetery adjolns the church lot Several wealthy farmers have left an endowment for the purpose of keepmg up the cemetery Twenty two C1Vll War veterans are bur1ed here The re are flve other churches ln W1dner townshlp one of whlch IS the Bethel Evangel 1cal Church w1th an enrollment of 708 members Many years ago a large sun d1al stood across the road from the Evangelmcal Church The dlal was about two feet m dxameter and stood on a pedestal about four feet hlgh As there were only a few clocks at the tlme many pecple made several trlps damly to the dlal to get the correct tlme , 1 1 , 1 , . 7 . . . . I . . . . 1 . Q - 1 1 - 1 ' ' 1 , . . - . . . . ! . 1, - , . Y Y . . . H , . 7 U I ' ' 1 Y 0 ! I . 1 1 y , . 1 3 . . . - 1 ' - H . . . . - ' - . . - 1 .