Allen Norcross "pulled up stakes"

From Black Hawk Slept Here

In 1832 the only settlers in Wells County were a few families on either side of the Wabash River near the present-day community of Murray. The news of the Black Hawk war scared them away, some of them permanently, it was said.

One of these people was Allen Norcross. He was the first in Wells County to get a land patent from the general government, which may mean he was the first settler in Wells County to go to the land office in Fort Wayne and select his land. At the land office he identified himself as a resident of Montgomery County. His land patent was issued on January 4, 1831. Norcross was not the first settler though.

That honor of "first" has been given by the county history writers to Joseph Knox of Fort Wayne. He settled on the west side of the river two years earlier than Norcross, in 1829. There is a marker at a nearby crossroads to commemorate it. Knox, too, is said to have fled at the news of the Black Hawk war.

The 1887 county history contains several mentions of these and other early settlers in connection with the Black Hawk war scare. It's difficult, though, to reconcile all of the accounts presented even in this one volume. What follows is a set of references which may or may not be complete:

Shortly after his location here he was joined by his two sons-in-law, Vantrees and Warner, who 'took up' the tracts since known as the Robert and James Harvey farms. Both came with their families and remained until 1832, when they were all frightened out of the country by wild rumors concerning the Black Hawk war. --page ...

In priority of settlement he [Henry Miller] was the oldest settler of Wells County at the time of his death. He made his home near where Murray now stands, November 10, 1832, having been preceded by only a few men, viz: Mr. Norcross Dr. Knox and Robert Harvey. --pages 742-745, Biographical sketch of Henry Miller

James Harvey, deceased, was one of Lancaster Township’s pioneers, establishing his residence on section 19 in the autumn of 1833.... Mr. Harvey was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, and is a brother of Robert Harvey, who settled on the present site of Murray in 1832.--pages 900-901, Biographical sketch of James Harvey

JACOB R. HARVEY, son of the old pioneer, Robert Harvey, is a native of Indiana, born in Union County, April 27, 1830. Revolutionary war.... Robert Harvey, the father of our subject, although afflicted with partial blindness of his left eye, volunteered in the war of 1812 and served one year. He was married in 1818 to Elizabeth Richey, of Butler County, Ohio, at the home of her parents, returning to his home in Indiana the same year. Elizabeth Richey was born in New Jersey in 1794, a daughter of Jacob Richey....The parents [] cleared a farm in the wilderness of Union County, where they made their home until 1832. In April of that year they removed with their family to Wells County, settling on section 18 of Lancaster Township, Robert Harvey being the fourth man to settle in what is now Wells County....The troublesome times of 1832 (the year of the Black Hawk war) induced his brothers Samuel and John to come from Union County. and move him back there. He left his stock and implements with a man named Joseph Knox, and returned with his brothers to Union County, where he spent the following winter. On returning to Wells County he found himself robbed of his stock and everything that was movable, and never recovered anything nor heard of his rascally neighbor again...Jacob R. Harvey, the subject of this sketch, now holds the patent of the old home given to his father, which is dated September 2, 1831, and signed by President Andrew Jackson. He has lived on this homestead, established by his parents in 1832, ever since two years of age... September 20, 1855, he was married to Elizabeth Miller, daughter of Henry Miller, who settled just opposite the present site of Murray in November, 1832. Mrs. Harvey was born on the pioneer homestead of her father, on section 18, Lancaster Township, March 15, 1834, and was the first white child born in Wells County. --pages 806-807, Biographical sketch of Jacob R. Harvey

[here]

Norcross bought land on the east side of the river, just south of Murray. The present-day highway 206 passes through the land he owned on its way from Bluffton to Murray. It's possible that this was a travel route back in the 1830s, too.

It would be interesting to know how these settlers got their news of the war. Was it from the south, via Cincinnati, or north, via Fort Wayne.

Back to the Black Hawk war. Here's one version of the story from an old history book.

The Black Hawk war, which in the year 1832 raged so fearfully in Illinois, and which spread such consternation throughout the western settlement, began to alarm these new comers, and Mr. Norcross "pulled up stakes," and with his family returned to his native State, where he remained until there was no longer any danger to be apprehended.

Goodrich, De Witt C. An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana (1875). page 464

It is not clear where Goodrich got this information. He cites a Newton Burwell as the source of much of the other information in the same chapter as the above, about early settlers in Wells County. Burwell didn't arrive in Wells County until 1847, when at age 11 he came with his parents. Burwell seems not to have been the person who provided the information about Norcross, though.

Norcross was still alive at the time this was written, though. And a couple of years later, a county history was published that contained more information. Apparently it wasn't just Norcross who pulled up stakes:

Allen and Isaac Norcross came in 1831, settling near the river below Bluffton, the former locating on the eastern bank. They also left during the Indian excitement of 1832, returning to New Jersey, their native State. After the Black Hawk war, Allen came again to his chosen location.

Location of Allen Norcross's home

The description in the above-referenced history is of a place a few miles north of what is now Bluffton, Indiana, in Lancaster Township, Wells County. The probable location is where Allen Norcross bought a little over 80 acres from the national government, on the E½NW of Section 20, Township 27N, Range 12E. This is the only land in Indiana that Norcross purchased from the government. State highway 116 passes through this property, along on the east side of the Wabash River.

Norcross died in 1879, but the 1881 county atlas still shows land that he owned in section 20. It looks like the north part of the original 80 acres was by then owned by a Nancy Weaver. But by then Norcross owned land in northeast and southwest quarters of section 20, too.

A likely place for a residence in 1881, if not in 1832, would have been along the road, now state highway 116. If there was one in 1881, the atlas does not show it. There is currently an old farmstead site on the road where it passes through the north half of section 20, but it may be on the land then owned by Nancy Weaver.

Norcross was said to be a somewhat reclusive character in his old age, so perhaps he didn't live along the road then. He may also have owned other land than what is shown on the 1881 atlas. According to the 1870 census, he owned about $nn,000 worth of real estate.

But to see the site of the war scare anecdote from a public road, it will have to suffice to say that it is somewhere along state highway 106 between county roads 250N and 300N.

Other Links

• Lancaster Township, Wells County, Indiana
• [U.S. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records]
• Road map of Lancaster township It's from the Wells County, Indiana USGenweb. The source of this map is not identified. Allen Norcross's home could have been right where the 116 symbol is, just south of Murray.
• [Delorme]
• Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana (1887). Contains biographical information about Newton Burwell, pages 702-703