Townships of Scott County

From "Lexington" by Mary Wilson and Sharon Y. Asher, published sometime after 1975.

THE REDISTRICTING OF SCOTT COUNTY
INTO CIVIL TOWNSHIPS

In 1820 when Scott County was organized it was districted into three civil townships - Lexington, Vienna and Jennings. This arrangement continued until 1867 when a special session of the Board of County Commissioners was called to revise and redistrict the county.

This change was brought about mainly because of dissatisfaction in Jennings Township. The western part of the township felt that the eastern part was receiving greater consideration in the way of improvements and political preferment. Thus, the bad feelings began and grew each year, adding to the dissatisfaction in Jennings Township until the Commissioners were called to redistrict the county and change the boundary lines of the townships.

There seemed to be no special reason for changing the boundaries of Vienna Township except that, in redistricting the county, the civil townships should be more nearly equal in size. Hence, the western part of Vienna Township was set off and named Finley. A small part of Lexington Township was given to Vienna and the boundaries of the present five townships were established.

This division did not meet with general satisfaction. The citizens of Jennings Township in the vicinity of Austin were thoroughly displeased and so expressed themselves in a petition to the Commissioners, a suit in the Scott Circuit Court and an appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court. The Circuit Court Record No. 9, page 291, and the Supreme Court Record under No. 784, filed October 8, 1867, give the following facts:

STATE OF INDIANA SCOTT COUNTY

THE STATE OF INDIANA TO THE SHERIFF OF SCOTT COUNTY

The interests of citizens of said county of Scott demands that the Board of Commissioners of said county be immediately convened for the purpose of attending to said interest in the revising and redistricting of the county into civil townships. You are therefore commanded to summons William H. Craig - President, William James and William Paswater, the Board of Commissioners, at the Auditor's Office in the courthouse in Lexington in said county on the 6th day of April 1867 at 10 o'clock a.m.

Witness my hand as Auditor of said county and seal of the Board of Commissioners. This 3rd day of April 1867.

Ambrase D. Hawkins., Auditor

SPECIAL APRIL TERM 1867 SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1867
STATE OF INDIANA, et al
SCOTT COUNTY

A special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners of Scott County Indiana held at the Auditor's Office in the courthouse in Lexington on Saturday, the sixth day of April 1867 for the purpose of revising and redistricting the county into civil townships. Present: William Craig, President; William James; and William Paswater.

SATURDAY - APRIL 6, 1867

The Board met in pursuance to an adjournment. Present were William Craig, President; William James; and William Paswater.

"It is ordered by the Board of Commissioners of Scott County that said county be divided into five civil townships as follows:

"Township No. 1--Jennings; Township No. 2--Johnson; Township No. 3--Lexington; Township No. 4--Finley; Township No. 5--Vienna."

It was further ordered that the places of the polls in each township were as follows:

Jennings Township - Austin

Johnson Township - New Frankfort

Finley Township - consisting of the State Road at the old Zaceus Sutton stand of the Brownstown and Charlestown and Salem and Lexington State Roads.

Vienna Township -Vienna

Lexington Township - Lexington

It was further ordered that at the next election of county commissioners the county be divided into three districts as follows: "The township of Jennings and Johnson shall be and constitute the First Commissioner's District; the township of Lexington the Second Commissioner's District; and the township of Vienna and Finley the Third Commissioner's District. "

It was also ordered by the Board that in liquidating the old debts existing in the original township, that a true amount of the indebtedness be obtained and divided between the old and the new township in proportion to the amount of taxable property in each township and taking the assessment of the real estate of the year 1866 and the personal property for the year 1866 for the basic of settlement. Also that all money in the hands of the County Treasurer belonging to said former township and in the hands of the Trustees and are delinquency on the tax duplicate be divided in proportion to the amount of taxable property in each township between the new township and the old (Jennings-Johnson) (Vienna and Finley).

Slight changes were made at the September, 1867 term of court in the boundary lines of Johnson, Lexington and Vienna Townships.

At the September, 1867 term of Commissioners Court the following petition was filed (Commissioners Record, No. 2, page 198, September, 1867):

"To the Board of Commissioners of Scott County, Indiana, the under-signed resident citizens and taxpayers of the County of Scott, State of Indiana, respectfully petition the Honorable Board of Commissioners of said county to vacate and declare null and void all the proceedings of the boundary lines of the different townships in said county which proceedings were had before said Board at a special session of the same held at the courthouse in the town of Lexington in the said county commencing on the 6th day of April, 1867, and ending on the 8th day of April, 1867, for these reasons:

l. That said special session of Board was convened and held without authority of law for the reason that a legal notice was not given of suit special session.

2. The Board did not conform to the boundaries of the civil township to the boundaries of the Congressional township in so far as it was practical to do so

3. Creating of said new township greatly increases public expenses and largely increases taxes.

4. Good and substantial school houses had been constructed by Jennings Township but by new lines almost all of said school building was becoming the property of the new township of Johnson. Great inconvenience and expense for Jennings.

5. Jennings Township was in debt for building said new school houses. By the new division Jennings Township would lose the buildings but have to pay half the debt.

6. Establishment of boundary lines was unequal and unjust and the division of the township debts unequal and unjust throughout county.

7. Convenience of citizens did not require the division of the county of Scott into new townships nor the change of boundary lines of the townships of said county.

"For the foregoing reasons and many others that appear upon the face of the proceedings' orders, judgement and decrees be vacated and annulled and if the county should be districted for township purposes, it should be done at a regular meeting of the County Commissioners where all the citizens may appear and be heard of the desires to and that it may be redistricted upon a just and equitable basis."

The petition was signed by the following:

Adam Stewart, Jeduthan Murfin, Milton B. Fields, A. B. Traylor, F. M. Barnes, Willis Burnett, John W. Montgomery, Stanford I. Perry, Thomas Baker, T. A. Wilson, Martin McCoralty, Elisha Wallon, Parker I. Hughbanks, George Chasteen, John Applegate, S. M. Rogers, Andrew Stewart, Elizah Parkinson, Thomas Hughbanks, Moses Baker, Andrew I. Robbins, S. R. Jennings, Milton Jones, Adam Reynold, L. H. Baldwin, Alfred Muchmore, Thomas Price, I. H. Stratton, Robert Jones, John Sage, John Lawless, Stephen Houghland, George Applegate, William H. Tull, John H. Jackson, Allen McCombs, Laren M. Bartle, James M. Fiels, Harley Sapp, Thomas Tull, W F. Hosea, N. R. Morgan, L. Morris, John Anthony, Michael Lawless, John N. Christy, Young Parks, John W Hosea, F. H. Wiggam, Henry Christy, John Tudor, Thomas B. Wilson, John H. J. Sierp, Gilbert Wiggam, Nathaniel Robbins, Battie H. Steward, Joseph Van Buskine, B. G. Berry, John Hubbard, John H. Hougland, William Trulock, W. C. Montgomery, Jesse Perdue, Robert Berry.

This petition, after due deliberation, was rejected by the Board. Wherefore, the petitioners excepted to the decision and asked an appeal to the Circuit Court. This appeal was granted by the Board upon the petitioners filing an appeal bond with good and sufficient face hold security to the satisfaction of the County Auditor within thirty days and the sum of five hundred dollars.

The appeal, Adam Stewart Vs. Board of County Commissioners, was dismissed by the Circuit Court and an appeal granted to the Supreme Court (Ref. Court Record No. 9, page 291). In this case the Scott County Circuit Court Record No. 9, page 291, shows that the case was heard on August 8, 1867. The Commissioners Record No. 2, page 198, shows that the petition was not rejected by the Board of Commissioners and an appeal granted to the Circuit Court until September, 1867. It is a little difficult to explain this discrepancy except that the early records of Adam Stewart and the Board of County Commissioners in Scott County were not maintained carefully.

The appeal to the Supreme Court was filed October 8, 1867, under No. 784. The Supreme Court records show that on November 6, 1867, the appeal was dismissed on the motion of the appellant, Adam Stewart Jason.

P. Brown appeared as attorney for Adam Stewart and Robert M. Weir as attorney for the Board of Commissioners of Scott County. There appears to be no certification of the Supreme Court decision back to the Scott County Circuit Court. This information was obtained from Zach Dungan, Clerk of the Supreme Court, November, 1923.

This decision settled the dispute over the redistricting of the county into civil townships and the boundary lines of said townships have remained the same for the past hundred years.

It is interesting to note that Johnson Township was named for President Johnson and Finley Township for one of its highly esteemed citizens - John Finley.

Return to: Lexington - A Pioneer Town