By Mike McCormick
Accounts of the trip by several families from upstate New York to Fort Harrison of the Indiana Territory during the summer of 1816 — primarily by flatboats on the Allegheny, Ohio and Wabash rivers — are a significant part of local tradition.
One of the three boats transported the family of Maj. Abraham Markle, soon to become one of the five proprietors of the Terre Haute Company.
The other boats brought the families of Joseph Richardson, Daniel Stringham and Maj. John Bond, plus members of the Redford, Harris, Fitch and Webb families.
The flat boats were made of heavy timber at Olean Point, N.Y., a celebrated launching site for emigrants choosing to invade the western wilderness.
Accompanying Maj. Markle were his wife Catherine and children Abraham, Henry, Aula, George, Nelson, Frederick and Joseph. He also brought several dogs, farming implements and a carriage. According to some versions, Joshua Olds and members of the Fitch family also may have been passengers.
Daughter Sarah Markle did not make the trip due to the death of her husband.
When the Richardsons departed Olean Point, their boat included Joseph’s wife Mary, known as “Polly,” with sons William and George Barkley and daughters Jane, Matilda, Sarah Elizabeth (later known as “Betty”), Mary, Margaret and infant Martha.
Joseph Richardson accompanied his family to Pittsburgh but disembarked there to trek overland to Washington, D.C., on business associated with his acquisition of land in the Harrison Purchase.
The third boat was commanded by Capt. Stringham, accompanied by his wife Abigail (Horton) and their three daughters. His passengers apparently also included Maj. Bond, his wife and two daughters.
The Stringhams did not bring their son Silas. Born in Middletown, N.Y., on Nov. 7, 1798, Silas Horton Stringham joined the U.S. Navy as a teenager during the War of 1812, serving on the frigate President and taking part in several important engagements. After heroic service during the Mexican and Civil wars, Stringham was breveted rear admiral in July 1862.
Daniel and Abigail Stringham’s daughter Jane became the wife of Judge Randolph H. Wedding while other daughters married Terre Haute residents Zebina Hovey and John Gilkey.
The Redfords included Henry, Richard, Moses, James and Sarah. Henry Redford ultimately built the Eagle & Lion, Terre Haute’s first inn and tavern, at First and Wabash streets.
The story of the Richardsons’ trip is the most widely circulated. Mary Elizabeth Richardson later wed Dr. Edward Voorhees Ball and their daughter, Mary Elizabeth (Ball) Peddle, wrote “The Story of a Hoosier Immigration.” An illustrated version of that narrative was published in 1939 through the efforts of her daughter, Terre Haute architect Juliet Peddle.
During the summer of 1815, Markle, Richardson, Capt. William Bigger, Stringham, and Harris traveled by horseback from Olean to Fort Harrison to examine investment prospects.
At Fort Harrison, the men were warmly greeted by Maj. John T. Chunn, the military commander who later clashed many times with Maj. Markle over issues related to land. Richardson — who owned a hotel, distillery and dry goods story in Williamsburg, N.Y. — purchased 22 sections in the Indiana Territory for $15,000 during that visit.
Returning to New York in September after their speculative venture, the men spent the winter preparing to transport their families to the “Wabash Country.”
It took nearly a month to build the rather elaborate flatboats. Open fireplaces were built on decks at ends of the boats. Knowledgeable rivermen were hired as pilots. Richardson’s chief pilot was a Frenchman who had experience plying the western rivers. His boat was the biggest: 81 feet long and 15 feet wide.
According to the Richardson’s narrative, the flatboat fleet reached the mouth of the Wabash around June 1. The trip thereafter was much more tedious, upstream against the current. They did not reach Vincennes until the third week of June.
Polly Richardson expected to meet her husband in Vincennes. Instead, she received a letter than he was very ill in Washington. On June 27, the journey was resumed without him
On July 4, 1816 (one version asserts it was June 12), at 6 a.m., soldiers at Fort Harrison sighted the boats coming around the final bend in the Wabash. A friendly race ensued as a cannon saluted their arrival.
Maj. Markle invited officers at the garrison on board for cake and wine. At that party, 15-year old Matilda Richardson met John McCullough, the fort surgeon. The couple married a year later.
Maj. Chunn offered the fort’s only unoccupied log cabin to Mrs. Richardson. Maj. Markle pitched a tent for members of his family while others stayed on the boats. The carriage strapped to Markle’s boat reportedly was the first ever seen at Fort Harrison.
Other civilians already were residing near the fort when the flatboats arrived from New York including Isaac Lambert and John Dickson, fort contractors; Curtis Gilbert; John Hamilton; Joseph and Edmund Liston; William and Martin Adams; Robert Graham; Reuben Moore; William Drake; Thomas Pucket; Andrew Brooks and his niece Susan Spencer; Peter Mallory; Peter B. Allen; Joseph Walker; and Isaac Tevabaugh.
The families of Moses Hoggatt, Dr. Charles B. Modesitt, Caleb Crawford. John Earle, Ezekial Buxton, Lewis Hodge, Abner Scott, Ezra Jones, Elijah Pound, James and John Chestnut, Elisha Bentley, James Wilson, Joel Kester, Capt. James Wasson, Hamilton Reed, David Lykins, Isaac and Henry Balding and Nathaniel Huntington also were among the early settlers.
Joseph and Polly Richardson ultimately settled in York, Ill., while the Stringhams located in Roseville in southern Parke County. Markle situated on Otter Creek, enlisting Ezra Jones to help him build a large mill.
The Terre Haute Company first offered lots in the platted village of Terre Haute for sale at the U.S. Land Office in Vincennes on Oct. 31, 1816, 190 years ago.
