Little Flock Cemetery, Hamilton Twp., Sullivan County, Indiana

Little Flock Cemetery is situated entirely within Hamilton Township, but it serves as the main cemetery for the town of Shelburn, Indiana which is in Curry Township. The cemetery actually consists of several burial grounds that were originally administered under different "authorities".

The southwestern "old section" was known as the "Hamilton Township cemetery". This section dates from before 1850, and there are many old and unmarked graves.

The northwestern section is the former location of the Little Flock Baptist Church, including its burying ground. The northern-most portion of that site is where the church once stood, and which has since been fully divided into burial plots after the church was torn down. Burials in the southern-most part of this section date from well before 1850.

The eastern sections of the cemetery, adjacent to Highway 41, date from after 1908. This was originally part of the farm property of Edmund W Thompson, who began selling lots on it after the original western sections of the cemetery were full.

The cemetery is now administered through the trustees of the Little Flock Cemetery Board.
Location: Latitude 39.1703189, Longitude -87.4086306

Our 19th Century Hoosier Heritage - Sullivan County, Indiana

The Wabash Valley in Indiana has been home to our ancestors from the early days of the great western migration into the Northwest Territory (Territory Northwest of the River Ohio) during the first part of the 19th Century. This genealogical study includes the numerous ancestors who are counted among Sullivan County's early settlers.

Sullivan County origins
The southernmost part of what is now Sullivan County, Indiana was included in a land grant received by the French from the Piankashaws, known as the Vincennes Tract - Deed of 1742. Resulting from George Rogers Clark's 1779 conquest of the British at Fort Sackville, the Vincennes Tract was obtained by the United States and was opened for settlement by the Public Land Act of 1796 as part of Knox County. The Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809), known as "Harrison's Purchase", opened the land above the Vincennes Tract as far north as the Ten-O'Clock Treaty Line in the southern part of present-day Parke County.

One of the new state government's earliest acts, within days of Indiana receiving statehood in December 1816, was to create Sullivan County from part of the old Knox County. The original Sullivan County, as officially chartered on 15 January 1817, included the greater portions of present-day Owen and Clay Counties, parts of Parke, Greene, Putnam and Vermillion, and all of present-day Vigo and Sullivan.

Ancestors
The following list is an index of the ancestral surnames of our early Sullivan County settlers:
AMMERMAN, BENEFIEL, BENNETT, BRIDGES, BRODIE, BURNETT, CANARY, CARRICO, COCHRAN, COGHILL, COX, CUSHMAN, DAVIDSON, ENO, EVERHART, HERNDON, HIGDON, HOWARD, HUNT, JOHNSON, LLOYD, MAGILL, MERRY, OGLE, PHILLIPS, SILVERS, SMITH, SOUTH, SPRINGER, THOMPSON, TRIMBLE, WATSON, WILSON, YAGER/YEAGER

This next list is an index of the ancestral surnames of our women-folk who migrated to Sullivan County under their husband's name, and whose family name may not appear regularly in county historical records:
BONNER, BRUNTS, CLOW/CLOUGH, EBY, GIFFORD, HAYES, HEIPS, HINTON, HOFFER, HOSIAC, KAUTZMAN, KENNERLY, LANCASTER, MARQUIS, RAMEY, REASON, RICKAR, RUNDEL, SARGENT, TICHENOR, TRAXEL/TROXELL

An finally, the following lists are our direct ancestors shown as husband & wife, with their township of residence. They are arranged as the ancestors of our grandparents, who were all born in Sullivan County toward the end of the 19th century or at the beginning of the 20th century:

ancestors of Helen E Cushman:
Arbaces G Cushman & Anna Laurie Eno, of Turman Twp.
Thomas K Cushman & Louisa M Cochran, of Turman Twp.
Cornelius Baker Eno & Francis M Eby, of Turman Twp.
David Cushman & Catherine Kennerly, of Turman Twp.
Elizabeth (Bonner) Cochran Waggoner, of Turman Twp.
Seth Cushman & Nancy Rundel, of Gill Twp.

ancestors of Leo S Phillips:
Fred Gifford Phillips & Clara Cynthia Yeager, of Turman Twp.
Leander Phillips & Louisa J Herndon, of Turman Twp.
Simeon Sylvester Yager & Anna E Burnett, of Turman Twp.
Rev. John Phillips & Ruth Gifford, of Turman Twp.
William W Herndon & Susan A Heips, of Jefferson Twp.
William Lambert Yager & Cynthia C Hayes, of Turman Twp.
William Boone Burnett & Rosannah Canary, of Gill Twp.
William Burnett & Mary Polly Springer, of Gill Twp.
Christian Canary & Nancy Susan South, of Gill Twp.
Henry South & Chloe Brunts, of Gill Twp.

ancestors of Mildred E Smith:
Edgar Smith & Bertha Wilhelmina Ammerman, of Cass Twp.
William Commodore Smith & Tacy M Cochran, of Cass Twp.
Ephram Wolfe Ammerman & Lucy A Everhart, of Cass Twp.
Valentine Mental Smith & Elizabeth Clow, of Cass Twp.
James B Cochran & Susan Margaret Wilson, of Cass Twp.
William H Ammerman & Elizabeth Traxel, of Jackson Twp.
John Everhart & Martha M Hoffer, of Jackson Twp.
William Cochran & Tacy Brodie, of Hamilton Twp.
Adam Wilson & Margaret Magill, of Cass Twp.
Sarah (Rickar) Brodie, of Hamilton Twp.
Susannah (Kautzman) Wilson, of Cass Twp.

ancestors of Walter E Thompson:
Edwund W Thompson & Annora B Higdon, of Hamilton Twp.
James W Thompson & Beulah E Hunt, of Hamilton Twp.
William Wesley Higdon & Nancy Coghill, of Hamilton Twp.
Zadock Hunt & Margaret Johnson, of Fairbanks Twp.
(Mrs) Coghill Marts, of Turman Twp.
Oliver Bridges & Sarah Lloyd, of Hamilton Twp.
Elizabeth (Lloyd) Ramey, of Hamilton Twp.

ancestors of Hazel Effie Ogle:
Charles Clifford Ogle & Addie F Trimble, of Turman Twp.
William Baty Ogle & Lousetta Lancaster, of Turman Twp.
Hamett Trimble & Sarah Jane Howard, of Haddon Twp.
Mary (Trimble) Land, of Haddon Twp.
John Booker Howard & Betsy Cox, of Haddon Twp.
Joseph Trimble & Catherine Carrico, of Haddon Twp.
Joseph Howard & Sarah Enoch, of Haddon Twp.
William J Cox & Mary Benefiel, of Haddon Twp.
James Trimble & Sarah Hinton, of Haddon Twp.
Charles J Carrico & Martha Reason, of Haddon Twp.

ancestors of Jesse Ward Springer:
Levi C Springer & Ida Estella Silvers, of Gill Twp.
Capt. Thomas B Springer & Charlotte A Merry, of Gill Twp.
Samuel Hamilton Silvers & Sarah H Johnson, of Gill Twp.
Jesse Ward Springer & Lucy Davidson, of Gill Twp.
Martin Merry & Abby L Tichenor, of Gill Twp.
Samuel Silvers & Martha Marquis Bennett, of Gill Twp.
James L Johnson & Hannah E Watson, of Turman Twp.
Henry Merry & Mehitable Sargent, of Gill Twp.
Thomas Bennett & Susannah A Marquis, of Gill Twp.
William Johnson & Mary Polly Hosiac, of Turman Twp.

Future entries to this log will expound upon these individual's lives, and upon some of their family connections.