The Shelbyville News
Saturday February 7, 1948
Page 3
YOUR TOWN — MT. AUBURN
By Hortense Montgomery
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What’s in a name? A rose by any other name they say would smell just as
sweet. But there is something in a name; for instance there’s that funny
name of Kokomo for which its people have been joked from end to the country to
the other and often by these who come from other countries. Many places bear
the name of those whom the citizens wish to honor and that we feel is a very
high tribute. All of this is by the way of saying that we never hear the name
Mt. Auburn but we have a feeling the village must be very attractive for it
has such a picturesque sound. The word Auburn appears in poetry and that
perhaps is in our thought.
But Mt. Auburn did not begin with this poetic name for it was first named
Black Hawk after the Indiana Chief Black Hawk, famous in history as fighting
with the British in 1812. He was chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, and fought
against the United States again when his people were moved west by the
government. In late years these Indians have has the sympathy of folks because
of their ruthless treatment during their trek to the new lands.
When the village was given a post office service it was renamed and given
the one which so intrigues us now.
Mt. Auburn was platted by John Warner, Christopher M. Allen, Daniel A.
Allen and William P. Records, January 18, 1837. Thirty-three lots
were surveyed off for village use. Jacob Klein, carpenter, is a
resident at the present time.
The first merchant was a Mr. Huffman who was followed by A.
Barnett and then came Sylvester Delano and Caleb Sanders. In
1839 Joseph Hageman, near the village built a saw mill; in 1841 a corn
cracker was added which was dignified by the name of a flour mill. A tannery
for tanning hides of both wild and domestic animals was added to the early
industries.
Mt. Auburn has always had interesting people one of which in the early day
was Dr. William M. Ford, father of Mrs. Wertz of Flat Rock and Miss
Hazel Ford now of Shelbyville and one of the teachers at the Thomas A.
Hendricks school. Dr. Ford lived in the village for 46 years and practices
medicine and also had one of the early stores. He came to the village on
horseback with saddlebags and his family counted it a coincidence that his
first professional visit and the last before his death was at the same home.
Another person who lived to be quite old and whom the villagers remembered
with great love and reverence was ‘Aunt’ Jane Clark, wife of Thomas
Clark and grandmother of Roger Clark who was first a minister and
then with his wife went to the Belgian Congo as missionaries. Rev. Clark died
there and Mrs. Clark is still there serving as a missionary. ‘Aunt Jane’
was the daughter of William Records one of the founders of the village.
Barbara Mohr is another of the women pioneers remembered by the
citizens; she owned land near the village and owned a store there. She was the
grandmother of Claud X. Mohr a former county auditor and the great
grandmother of Carroll Mohr the present county treasurer. Mr. Carroll
Mohr commutes back and forth to the village and recently built a new home
there next to his father and so it seems means to stay with his native village
for his family life. Mrs. Mary Young is another of the very old
residents now 97, and she is the mother of Charles Young.
Mount Auburn is in the exact center of Jackson township and is on neither a
railroad nor a river but has good highways leading into and through it. It is
the location of the township’s consolidated school, with the eight
elementary grades and four years of high school. It has one church, the
Christian church, and the St. George Lutheran Church about two miles out from
the village which serves all members of that faith in the community.
In 1886 the population was almost 100, in 1909 about the same and now by
actual county 105 residents with about 25 homes.
The town’s industries include three business concerns, two filling
stations operated by Emmett Bruce, and a grocery store, owned by Irl
Reid, which is a real ‘county store’ where one can be served groceries
and all the needs of a modern blacksmith shop, which takes care of mending,
welding, and all the ills of modern vehicles.
In the early days the blacksmith shop was the first necessity and it still
remains an important factor. It was still going big when Miss Ford was a very
little girl; it had a drawing fascination for her and when she couldn’t be
found about her home she could always be found down at the blacksmith shop
where she was always wondering ‘what made the fire’ for she didn’t then
understand the working of the bellows.
The citizens of the small villages have always represented much of the
finest citizenry of the county and how nice it is that many of them gravitate
to the county seat for business, professional and official duties.
Contributed by Barb Huff
The Shelbyville News
April 19, 1900
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[There are several paragraphs preceding these.]
Elis Cowels and wife, of near Flat Rock, circulated among friends in this vicinity Sunday, this being their former home.
Gephart & Isley are doing a hustling business in the buggy line this season. If you want a first-class job of painting or repairing call on them.
Say girls just wait till next Sunday, when Finley Brown comes out with his new horse, harness and Oh! that beautiful rubber tire buggy. You want to smile and be a candidate for the first ride in it.
Mr. Charles Wertz, of Springer, Ind., visited his parents here Sunday. Charlie is in the lumber business with his brother Dan. He has been away from here about six years. Charley is a hustler and his friends are always glad to see him.
If there is any one who thinks Mt. Auburn does not consist of much just read the following: Two stores, postoffice, one blacksmith shop, one buggy and repair shop, two barber shops, one dressmaker, two carpenter shops, one drayman, one doctor and last of all fourteen wood choppers and room for more.
UNCLE JOSH.
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This town was originally
laid out by John Warner, Christopher M. Allen, Daniel A. Allen and William P. Records,
January 18, 1837. It consisted of thirty-two lots each 70-1/2x141 feet. Main and Walnut Streets each seventy feet wide, other streets fifty. Alleys twelve. It was laid out at the corner common to four sections, viz.: Sections
17, 18, 19, 20 in Township 11 north, Range 6 east, variation 5 degrees. Two additions were made to Black Hawk,
by William P. Records, Daniel A. Allen and Christopher M. Allen, May 15, 1839, consisting of sixteen lots on the
north of the original town plat, and eight lots on the south. Klein's Addition to Mount Auburn was made by
Jacob Klein and Phebe
Klein, February 14, 1884.
See plat book No. 2, page 28, consisting of six lots in southwest quarter, of the southwest one quarter, Section
17, Township 11, Range 6; all lying east of Mulberry Street and north of the new school-house lot, each 40-1/2
feet front by 237 deep.
Mount Auburn is situate at the geographical center of Jackson Township, the southwest corner Township of the county, twelve miles southwest of Shelbyville, and five miles northeast of Edinburg, Johnson
County, Indiana, on the I., M. and I.R.R. The original name of Mount Auburn was Black Hawk, so named after
the celebrated Indian chief Black Hawk. The first goods brought to Mt. Auburn were by a man by the name of Huffman. His stock consisted of general merchandize, and was kept in a small frame house
that stood on the same lot now occupied by Mr. Conner's business house. Mr. A. Barnett
came soon after and opened a store across the street from Huffman's. Then came
Sylvester Delano and Caleb Sanders. Other early merchants were:
John S. Campbell, A. B. Alsip, Obediah Sims, Joshua Lucas, Austin Ship
and Edward Ferrell. In 1839, Joseph Hageman
located his saw mill near the town. He sold in a short time to Delano
& Sanders, who operated it more extensively, and in 1841, attached a grist mill, or more properly a corn cracker.
Among the early enterprises of the town may be mentioned a tannery, which was owned and operated by a man
named M. Reisman. The site of this tannery was a few yards west of
the residence of Mr. John
M. Payne. The hides of the wild and domestic animals, were dressed and thus the local demand for leather was met. The business at present consists of two stores, a wagon and blacksmith shop. The town numbers about 175 inhabitants.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1887, page 447-448.
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Shelby Democrat
Special Correspondence of the Democrat:
Mt. Auburn
June 8, 1885
------
Edward Brooke, who has been attending school at Danville, has returned home.
James Graham and Lillian Ripebart
where married on the 4th. I wish them much happiness.
Miss Mary Littler, aged twenty-seven years, died Sunday night of consumption.
The remains will be interred Tuesday at 2 o'clock at the Mt. Auburn cemetery.
John Ottman had his pocketbook, which contained about $2, stolen while at
Conrad Weinsatz at work. The thief entered his bed room, which was on the second floor, with the assistance of a ladder.
A three-years-old son of George Runche, was kicked by a horse in the forehead a day or two since.
His skull was fractured in such a manner as to make his recovery doubtful.
The doctors removed a portion of the frontal bone measuring one and a half by two inches.
Contributed by Linda Ellis
The Shelby Democrat
March 12, 1885
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MT. AUBURN.
-------
Special Correspondence of the Democrat.
MT. AUBURN, March 9, 1885.
--- Ed Brook is quite sick.
--- W. H. Barlow's condition is some better.
--- Green Willis, who has been sick, is recovering.
--- Born, to Sam Conover and wife, a bouncing boy.
--- Miss Harding, of Columbus, Ind., is visiting at John Wertz's.
--- Lige Kendall has moved near Smithland on his father's farm.
--- Rev. Line and Oscar Winterrowd, of Flatrock, were visiting friends in our vicinity Sunday.
--- The Democrats in this vicinity feel sore because McDonald did not get a position in the Cabinet.
--- Pierce obituary
--- Ford obituary
--- "The Kids," from Bengal, were seen in our burg Sunday. They are possessed of a superfluous quantity of smiles, which they lavished upon our ladies.
--- Mrs. Elizabeth Cooper slipped and fell the other day and struck her head upon a stone, cutting a very ugly gash in it. She has been quite ill since.
--- G. F. Conley fell out of a buggy while on his road ome from Edinbur. He was bruised considerably by the wheel passing over his head and face.
--- The officers of the Lutheran Church are around soliciting money to pay expenses for the ensuing year. Everyone should contribute liberally, they did not have enough money last year to meet expenses.
--- The revival meeting which has been going on under the management of Rev. Kuhn, at the Lutheran Church closed last night with six accessions. Their names are: John Stine, Israel Snider, Martin Bocock, Charley Cooper, Robert Collins and Mrs. Ann Hill.
--- Wilfred Hill and wife have changed their notion. They are not going to move to Clifford as has been stated but they are going to live on Mr. Scott's farm two miles north of here. We would just hint to Wilfred that he should have the Democrat as a weekly visitor at his house.
DARBY AND JOAN.
Copied by Phyllis Miller Fleming
The Shelby Democrat
March 5, 1879
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News and Gossip Picked Up on the Fly,
By Our Vigilant Reporters.
-----0-----
ALL ALONG THE WAY
----0----
Mt. Auburn.
(Special Correspondence of The Democrat.)
Mt. Auburn, Ind., March 4, 1879.
---Miss Link, of
Ohio, is going to teach a class in music at this place, during the coming
summer.
---Mr. Jacob Hill,
living a half mile south of this place, who has been very ill for several months
past, is now improving.
---Mr. W. A. Smith,
of Hope, has located in our village, and has his shingle out as a boot and shoe
maker. May success attend him.
---Mr. Jacob Mahley
is boiling sugar water in the limits of our city. We think he ought to be
prosecuted for creating such a smoke in that part of town.
---John Stine
has procured a patent for an improvement on clover hullers. He has also
bought a saw-mill, which he runs with his former engine.
---On Saturday last, was
the closing session of the Teachers' Institute in this township. The
Trustee and three teachers were absent. Shame on teachers that will not
attend Institutes.
---We hope that THE
DEMOCRAT'S special correspondent, signed "More Anon," and his
talented brother, with his high standing of morality, both of this place are at
last at peace with man and their God, as they have expressed their indignation
for cards. But unfortunately for the poor boys, they both indulge, and
their precepts will avail but little.
ORELOF.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming
The Town of Blackhawk
The town of Blackhawk is situated in Shelby County, Ind. On Sections 17, 18, 19, 20, the corner of said Sections being the center of Main cross streets. The variation of the lines is 5 degrees. The regular size of the lots is 70 ½ feet in width and 141 feet in length. The allies* are 12 feet wide. The streets are marked in feet.
State of Indiana §
Shelby County §
Be it remembered that this day personally appeared before me the undersigned, a Justice of the Peace in and for the county of Shelby aforesaid John Warner, Christopher W. Allen, David A. Allen and William P. Records, Proprietors of the within platted Blackhawk, and severally acknowledged the laying off of the same to be their acts, in strict confidence with an act for recording town plats. Approved January 21st 1818.
Given under my hand and seal this 18th day of January 1837.
Signed: J. B. Lucas, J.P. (seal)
Recorded January 21st 1837
Signed: Milton Robins, Recorder
(see original plat in Record Book “G” page 20)
Transcribed by Melinda Moore Weaver
* I believe that allies is meant to be alleys - MMW
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