Pioneer Pickings The Salem Democrat Washington County, Indiana Indiana March 31, 1880 Surnames in this are: Trueblood, Coffin, Morris, Ryan, Cowan, Lindley, Fouts, Prather, Denny,Thompson, Moody, Hobbs, Booth, Harrison, Tatlock, Young, Hibbard, Lyon, DePauw Sketch of James & Elizabeth Trueblood The old people who knew James Trueblood used to tell thatJames was a very small piece of humanity when he was an infant.  Elizabeth’s father became his guardian, andthus the two children were raised mostly together, and as soon as they grew up,became engaged to marry and the wedding was consummated when Elizabeth was inher 17th year and James in his 21st year.  James received as good an education as theschools in that country could give him and in early life became a teacher ofothers. Elizabeth had only spent three months of her life at school, but made athorough businesswoman since she came to the Northwestern Territory.  James’s father 1eft him some property inslaves, then with               the helpof his guardian, Joshua Trueblood, and his mother, he made them free and paidtheir way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In order to get away from what theybelieved to be the evils of slavery. The families of James Trueblood, Nathan Trueblood, Mathew Coffin,Jehosaphat Morris, and James Trueblood, Jr. came to Washington County, Indianaterritory.  A Negro came along withthem, who had been the property of Nathan Trueblood. This Negro was named JohnCowan, and he drove one of the eight wagons that came along as this little bandturned their backs upon Elizabeth City and turned their faces toward IndianaTerritory.........               Theyboth belonged to Quakers or Friends..........                 JamesTrueblood purchased a piece of land of William Lindley, a brother of SamuelLindley, and an uncle of William Lindley of later years. That land was where ahorse mill was erected near the Friends or Quaker meetinghouse, and it was herethat James Trueblood got his milling done. The deed to the farm was written byDavid Fouts, Justice of the Peace, on the 10th day of August 1815, and was recordedby Basil Prather, clerk and recorder. The county at this time had nocourthouse, and has not improved ver particularly in that respect at present.The persons assisting James Trueblood in erecting his cabin were Elisha Denny,Samuel Denny, father of Joel Denny, Levi Thompson, father of James L Thompson,Lewis Moody, Joshua Trueblood, Nathan Trueblood father of Joseph Matthew Hobbs,Jehosaphat Morris, father of Nathan, and others….                Joshuaand Mi1es Tatlock sawed the weatherboarding, joists and sheeting’s      for the Trueblood house with a whipsaw.Nicholas Hibbard and Joseph Young were witnesses to the deed of the land.  When James came to this county his recollectionis that John Owens and his brother had the only store in Salem, and the nextwas Gen. John DePauw and Lieut. Gov. Christopher Harrison.  Then came Jonathan Lyon, the father ofDawson Lyon.  The first newspaper wasthe Tocsin, published by Patrick and Booth, and established about’ the timeNewton Booth, the present Senator from California was born. James Trueblood andBebe Booth were warm friends, and both are still alive......... He says thatafter he came to Indiana he used nothing that came through slave labor, usingno sugar but home made and his wearing apparel was generally home made.  About the year1840, a stranger on horsebackwith a pair of saddlebags slung behind him was traveling along on one of theroads leading to Salem; he met a young man and inquired if James Trueblood livedin the neighborhood. As there were three of them the young man asked which onehe meant.  The peddler replied it wasGentleman James from North Carolina. That peddler was Peter Ryan, an old and respected citizen of this countyat the time of his death a few years ago, who amassed considerable wealth.