JERICHOFRIENDS MEETING And It's Community Randolph County Indiana 1864 The people of a community make its history. If there are no people, there is no history. The folks who lived and worked near Jericho are the center of interest for us. Other matters have importance only as they affect these folks.  Some caution must be used in determining just who did and did not live in this early community. First to be eliminated are those absentee land owners who may be classed as land speculators. There were several of these. Next it must be realized that some individuals who entered land never lived on it, or at any rate not at or near the time of entry. Benjamin Cox, Richard Mendenhall. John and Henry Lawman. John Coats and perhaps Joseph Hickman are examples of this type. Next there were those who lived in the neighborhood, but due to lack of money or to other causes, did not enter land for some time after occupying it. Such folks depended upon making enough money as squatters to be able to purchase the land, before it was purchased by some one else. Neighborhood sentiment often frowned on attempts to purchase land, which had been so occupied, and thus protected the          squatter,to an extent, till he had opportunity to effect his purchase.  The residents of the first Jericho Community (prior to 1830) are listed with considerable caution. In determining the families to be included, the following sources have been depended upon: Land entries.  Tucker History; Genealogicalrecords; Minutes of the White River MM.         Marriage Records; and other sources. It is believed that the listing is reasonably accurate. These people are shown in Table II, with their families, where these could be found.            The first group of people, whoentered Government land near Jericho, did so by the end of the year 1826. Two or three purchases appear later, but no more entries of government land till 1831. Entries began in 1818. There was thus a considerable period when activity was stagnated, due perhaps to the post war depression, which followed          the war of 1812. This early group was then isolated for perhaps half a generation andso will betreated as a group to themselves. Abram Peacock, his son Amos, his son-in-law Henry Hill, and Henry's brother, Benoni were the first to arrive in the spring of 1818. The Hills and the Peacocks were from Guiliford County, North Carolina, where they belonged to the Back Creek Friends Meeting.All of these families settled first in Wayne County, Indiana, and spent a year         there. They left Wayne perhaps partly under the influence of Jeremiah Cox, one of the first settlers in Wayne, who lived on the present site of the city of Richmond, and who was averse to the establishment of the town. He purchased Government land at Jericho, also in 1818, though he did not move here till later. It is probable that this group came up to Jericho from Wayne by way of the Quaker Trace, which passed a short distance to the east and had been laid out only a year previous.