Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706-1828Poinsatte, Charles R.
History
Outpost in the Wilderness: Fort Wayne, 1706-1828
Poinsatte, Charles R.
Fort Wayne (Ind.) -- History
Some of these lots, in the heart of the present city, sold for $10.25;
the highest brought only $25. The entire thirty-six lots comprising this
original sale netted only $690.50, an average of less than $20. per lot.
Most of the purchasers made a down payment of half the purchase price.
After the sale of some of the remaining lots, Tipton resigned as county
agent on September 5, 1825, and Charles W. Ewing was appointed to fill
the vacancy.
With the selection of Fort Wayne as the county seat and the improvement
and sale of the public lands, new settlers began to arrive in 1824. One
of these was Hugh Hanna, the brother of Samuel Hanna, who established
the first cabinet and carpenter shop. The villagers were becoming
prosperous enough to build more permanent homes and furnish them with
better furniture. Chief Richardville and Samuel Hanna, following the
best tradition in the East, imported most of their household furnishings
from France.
Another indication that Fort Wayne was becoming a village for the more
permanent type of settler was the establishment of a small brick factory
north of the town by Benjamin Archer who also arrived in 1824. From the
products of his yards the first brick building at Fort Wayne was
constructed near the end of that year.
Other settlers of 1824 were Mrs. Peter Edsall and her nine children. At
Fort Wayne the family purchased a farm. Later her sons—Samuel, John
Simon, and William—became identified in the developments of the town,
establishing saw mills, laying plank roads, and finally contracting for
the construction of the first railroad to reach Fort Wayne. William
Stewart, Smalwood Noel, John Bruno, Charles and Francis Minie, Richard
Chobert, and Joseph Barron also came to the village in 1824. Most of
these people came from Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia by way of the Ohio
and St. Mary’s rivers. A few of them came from the Detroit region or
from New York state by way of Lake Erie and the Maumee river.
[1]_U. S. Statutes at Large_, 3: 701-2; 6:448.
[2]At a later date part of the reserve was taken over by the state in
connection with the opening of the Wabash-Erie canal; the remaining
twenty acres were purchased by Cyrus Taber and opened for sale in
1835. It appears from John Tipton’s correspondence at the time that
he and Allen Hamilton also had an interest in Taber’s purchase.
[3]_John Tipton Papers_, II, _IHC_, XXV, p. 18.
[4]_Revised Laws of Indiana, 1823-24_, p. 109. This legislative act took
effect April 1, 1824.
[5]Treasurer’s Report for Allen County, 1824, Allen County Historical
Society Archives.
[6]Judge Allen Zollars, “Bench and Bar of Allen County” quoted in
Charles Slocum, _Valley of the Upper Maumee River_, II, p. 439.
[7]_Tipton Papers_, I, _IHC_, XXIV, p. 405.
Chapter VII
The Treaty of 1826 and the Removal of the Indian Agency
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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