History of Perry County

Perry County, Indiana, is one of the first memorials to the fame of the gallant American commodore, Oliver Hazard Perry, of Rhode Island, whose brilliant naval victory over the British fleet on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, was recognized and commemorated less than one year later by the Legislature of Indiana Territory through the bestowal of his name upon one of two new counties (Posey being the other) organized out of Warrick and a part of Gibson, by an act approved September 7, 1814.

Since, however, all history must have its beginnings with the earliest inhabitants of any country or locality, let it not be forgotten that within the metes and bounds as thus established, some material evidence then existed to give testimony that Perry County was once in possession of the Mound Builders, that singular race of nomads, or semi-nomads, who left traces of their occupancy throughout the entire Mississippi Valley. These Mound Builders being placed by reliable historians as contemporaneous with the early Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians, a speculative discussion of their origin, sojourn and ultimate disappearance would far outreach the plan of this volume, nothing being perhaps more completely shrouded in oblivion than this strange race. Their works form their monuments, and tradition is even more silent than their tombs.

 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I Exploration and Organization 1
CHAPTER II Pioneer Settlers of Each Township 8
CHAPTER III First Circuit Court and Officers at Troy 28
CHAPTER IV Removal of County Seat to Rom 35
CHAPTER V Revolutionary Veterans and Soldiers of 1812 42
CHAPTER VI Brick Court House and Early Residents at Room 63
CHAPTER VII Lafayette's Steamboat Wreck at Rock Island 61
CHAPTER VIII Lincoln Family in Perry County 68
CHAPTER IX Early Residents, Schools and Churches— Derby 74
CHAPTER X Mining Developments at Coal Haven and Cannelton 85
CHAPTER XI Original School Laws and System 94
CHAPTER XI Founding of Leopold by Father Bessonies 104
CHAPTER XII Rono and Northeastern Portion of County 113
CHAPTER XIV Lawyers, Judges and First Newspapers 121
CHAPTER XV Manufacturing Enterprises at Cannelton 130
CHAPTER XVI Churches and Schools at Cannelton 145
CHAPTER XVII Second Relocation of County Seat 156
CHAPTER XVIII County Banks, Newspaper Changes, Etc. 165
CHAPTER XIX River Traffic and Famous Steamboats 173
CHAPTER XX Swiss Colonization Society at Tell City 184
CHAPTER XXI Pioneer Men and Industries at Tell City 193
CHAPTER XXII Immediately Before the War Between the States 203
CHAPTER XXIII Beginning of Hostilities 212
CHAPTER XXIV Benevolent and Patriotic Work of Women 221
CHAPTER XXV Progress of War 226
CHAPTER XXVI Hines' Invasion — Morgan's Raid 237
CHAPTER XXVII Bombardment of Hawesville 245
CHAPTER XXVIII Close of War 250
CHAPTER XXIX Industrial Development 258
CHAPTER XXX Adyeville, Branchville, Bristow, Siberia 268
CHAPTER XXXI Rome Academy 276
CHAPTER XXXII First Teachers' Institute 285
CHAPTER XXXIII First County Fairs 294
CHAPTER XXXIV From Plank Road to Railway 303
CHAPTER XXXV Newspapers and Fraternal Orders 317
CHAPTER XXXVI New Court House— First High School 330
CHAPTER XXXVII Present Century Events 341
CHAPTER XXXVIII Indiana Centennial 352

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Perry County, Indiana, is one of the first memorials to the fame of the gallant American commodore, Oliver Hazard Perry, of Rhode Island, whose brilliant naval victory over the British fleet on Lake Erie, September 10, 1813, was recognized and commemorated less than one year later by the Legislature of Indiana Territory through the bestowal of his name upon one of two new counties (Posey being the other) organized out of Warrick and a part of Gibson, by an act approved September 7, 1814.

Since, however, all history must have its beginnings with the earliest inhabitants of any country or locality, let it not be forgotten that within the metes and bounds as thus established, some material evidence then existed to give testimony that Perry County was once in possession of the Mound Builders, that singular race of nomads, or semi-nomads, who left traces of their occupancy throughout the entire Mississippi Valley. These Mound Builders being placed by reliable historians as contemporaneous with the early Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians, a speculative discussion of their origin, sojourn and ultimate disappearance would far outreach the plan of this volume, nothing being perhaps more completely shrouded in oblivion than this strange race. Their works form their monuments, and tradition is even more silent than their tombs