Saint Thomas, Indiana

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St Thomas
former hamlet
Saint Thomas, Indiana
Coordinates: 38°35′10″N87°33′44″W / 38.58611°N 87.56222°W / 38.58611; -87.56222
CountryUnited States
StateIndiana
CountyKnox

Saint Thomas was a hamlet in Johnson Township, Knox County, Indiana, in the United States. [1] It had an eponymous Catholic church, and a Benedictine convent which also provided a school. [1]

Contents

The Purcell family and melon farming

In farms surrounding the hamlet the major crop in the 19th century was melons, which were shipped out via the nearby Purcell's Station ( 38°35′44″N87°31′09″W / 38.59556°N 87.51917°W / 38.59556; -87.51917 (Purcell's Station) ), located 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Vincennes on the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad . [2] [3] There were also once grain elevators at the station. [1] Purcell's was also the post-office serving St Thomas and local merchant Lease Werker was its postmaster back at the turn of the 20th century. [1]

The Purcells were an early family of European farming settlers starting with Isaac Purcell who came to Knox county from Virginia somewhere around 1790, and Jonathan Purcell. [4] Jonathan was the father of John Purcell who was the father of Noah Purcell, whose farm was next to Isaac's farm. [4] Andrew Purcell's farm was the location of the Purcell's Station railroad stop and post-office and it is Andrew for whom the station was named. [4] Andrew had a water mill and a still house, [5] as had Noah. [6]

Dicksburg

Andrew Purcell originally owned the land that was sold to Thomas Dick on 1836-12-01, that would be the site of the failed town of Dicksburg to the south of St Thomas, in adjoining Decker Township in Donations 6 and 7 (roughly 38°30′29″N87°33′00″W / 38.508°N 87.55°W / 38.508; -87.55 (approximate location of Dicksburg) ). [7] Thomas Dick was a relative of James A. Dick, after whom the Dick's Hills also in Decker Township ( 38°30′22″N87°33′58″W / 38.506°N 87.566°W / 38.506; -87.566 (Dick's Hills) ) were named. [8] The town was located downstream of Deckertown (nowadays Decker) on the north bank of West Fork White River, 14 miles (23 km) south of Vincennes. [9] [7]

Amongst the owners of lots there was Isaac Purcell. [7] But only half of the 93 lots of the planned town were ever sold, and the entire town was washed away when the White River flooded. [8] By 1875 there was a graveyard at the site of the former town, which itself also ended up being washed away in another flood. [8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Greene 1911a, p. 380.
  2. ↑ Greene 1911a, pp. 370, 380.
  3. ↑ Lippincott 1880, p. 1816, Purcell's.
  4. 1 2 3 Baker, Emerson & Cauthorn 1886, p. 81.
  5. ↑ Baker, Emerson & Cauthorn 1886, p. 91.
  6. ↑ Baker, Emerson & Cauthorn 1886, p. 92.
  7. 1 2 3 Baker, Emerson & Cauthorn 1886, p. 271.
  8. 1 2 3 Greene 1911a, p. 377.
  9. ↑ Baldwin & Thomas 1854, p. 324, Dicksburg.

Bibliography

  • Baker, Orlan F.; Emerson, Z. T.; Cauthorn, Henry S. (1886). "History of Knox County". In Goodspeed, Weston Arthur (ed.). History of Knox and Daviess County, Indiana. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing. OCLC   8449389. (History of Knox and Daviess County, Indiana at the HathiTrust Digital Library )
  • Greene, George E. (1911a). History of old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana. Vol. 1. Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing. Company. OCLC   3557995. (volume 1 at the Internet Archive History of old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana at the HathiTrust Digital Library )
  • Baldwin, Thomas; Thomas, Joseph (1854). A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Company.
  • Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Company. 1880. (Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World at the Internet Archive )
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