[stacey.23]

I thought I would post these as I have seen most of the surnames mentioned here. Per census records, most the families listed were from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Howard County Indiana Family History 1844 – 1994 by the Howard County Genealogical Society, 1995, page 15.

ERVIN TOWNSHIP

Early Settlers

…There were two colored settlements – Rush located at 450 N. – 600 W. and Bassett at 400 N. – 950 W.

The early settlers of the Bassett community were free slaves from Parke County, Indiana. The first minister was Zachariah BASSETT, the father of Richard BASSETT. Some of the other black families in the Bassett community were William ELLIS, Thomas ARTIS, Reuben GRIGGS, Nancy MOSLEY, Thomas HALL, Gertrude VAUGHN and Samantha McDANIELS. The Rush settlement families were: William HARDEMON, Charles HARMON, Adaline LOCUST, Daniel RUSH, Henderson WEST, Richard BARRINGTON and Doc HARVEY….

Howard County (A Pictorial History) by Ned Booher and the Howard County Historical Society, 1994, ppgs. 105-107.

ERVIN TOWNSHIP

African-American Settlements

For several years before the Civil War, the Quakers of western Howard County, particularly those in Poplar Grove, served as “conductors” and “stationmasters” on the Underground Railroad, which assisted southern slaves who had escaped from their owners. Some of these former slaves settled in Howard County as early as 1854 when the first group of 30 families, with the help of the Quakers, started two communities in north central Ervin Township. One, the Rush community, was known as the “upper settlement,” while the Bassett community was known as the “lower settlement.”

The Rush settlement included many members of the RUSH family, such as brothers Horace and Reuben, as well as William and John HARDIMAN, Henderson WEST, Richard BARRINGTON, and Dock HARVEY and his son Charles, who was a teacher for many years. Most of the inhabitants belonged to the Methodist Church, where Daniel RUSH, the father of Horace and Reuben, served as minister.

Leaders of the Bassett community included Britten, Zachariah, Robert, Henry, William, and John BASSETT; Beeda, Micajah, and Morrison ARTIS; William KENNEDY; Reuben GRIGGS; and Nathaniel RICHMOND. Most were members of the Free Baptist Church, where Zachariah and Richard BASSETT were ministers. Richard BASSETT was elected to the Indiana General Assembly in 1892, while Robert JONES served as justice of the peace in 1888.

The Free Baptist Church was used as a school for a time until the township built a new schoolhouse. Other structures included a blacksmith shop, a general store and a post office, with Henry P. BASSETT as postmaster. Britten BASSETT was the second and last postmaster when the office was closed December 30, 1894.

The members of both settlements were very patriotic, and many enlisted for service in the Union Army, including William ELLIS, Thomas ARTIS, John BASSETT, and Horace and Reuben RUSH.

A leader of the settlements called together all the inhabitants in 1863 to read President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The bodies of three African-American soldiers who volunteered are buried in the small cemetery a quarter of a mile from the spot were the reading took place.

Both settlements slowly declined and finally were abandoned about 1913. Almost all the residents had moved away, many to Kokomo, where many of their descendants still live.

[rosebudsaponi]

Something in your post has caught my attention. What does anyone know regarding the Hardemon family. I know they originate in Prince Geo Co area of VA and were prominant traders. Supposedly, Joshua Poythress married a Hardiman (sp) and there is a Hardiman Poythress that I am on the hunt for. It is believed by the Poythress researchers that Hardiman Poythress is the grandson of Joshua Poythress of Flowerdew Hundred. This particular Hardiman married an Elizabeth Golder (13 Oct 1789) in Prince Geo Co. In NC records, he is listed as FPC and in Prince Geo VA, white. He is taken to court by his sister-in-law for not settling the estate of his brother John Poythress in a timely manner and listed are John and Hardiman’s sisters, Winnifred Haithcock and Anritta Haithcock. See Below:

Poythress Estate records

Estate of John Poythress, Northampton County, North Carolina (c. 1779)

Mentions: Mary Poythress, Nanny Portress, Temperance Poythress, Hardimon Porthress

C the Worshipful the Justices of Northampton County Court

The Petition of Mary Poythress, Nanny Portress, Temperance Poythress, Edmund Hathcock & Anritta his wife & Newman Hathcock & Winifred his wife humbly sheweth that John Poythress the husband of your petitioner Mary & Brother of your Petitioners Temperance Anritta, Nanny & Winifred being entitle to pay as a Soldier from the public to the amont value of one hudred pounds & upward departed this live some time in the year 1778 or 1779 Intestate His Brother Hardimon Porthress of the said County obtained Letters of Administration of his Estate in your Worships Court about June Court Last past whereby he became intitled to and has actually received from the public the pay and arrages (?) of pay due to the intestate as aforesaid, and notwithstanding Your Petitioners have frequently in a friendly manner requested the said administrator to pay and deliver to them their respective parts. & shares of the said Estate so received by him as aforesaid to wit one half to your petioner Mary the widow & one seventh part of the residue thereof to each of your other Petitioners the said intestate having left no chid & seven Brothers & Sisters, Yet the said administrator has always evaded or refused to comply with such reasonable requests. Wherefore as your Petitioners are without redress except before you Worships agreeably to the Act of the General Assemly in such case made proided. May it lease your Worship to grant to your petitiners your Writ of Subpeoena summoning the said Hardimon Poythress before your Worships to answer upon his Corporal Oath the promises (?) as fully as if the same were herien again particularly interrogated (?) & refuted (?) And that your Petitioners may have such releif in the prim(?) the Equity and Justice of their Case may intitle them to & they will pray so

B. Baker Att

for pett

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