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Lick Creek African American Settlement \ USDA Forest Service Hoosier National Forest 8/2012

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Lick Creek African American Settlement \ USDA Forest Service Hoosier National Forest 8/2012 Lick Creek African American Settlement \ USDA Forest Service Hoosier National Forest 8/2012 The first African American settlers came to Indiana law required of all negroes and mulla- Orange County, Indiana before 1820. Led by tos. A physical description, often including dis- Jonathan Lindley, eleven families traveled with tinguishing marks, is listed and statements by a group of sympathetic Quakers in search of white witnesses vouching for the registrants a new land which forbade slavery. Jonathan free status and character. Lindley settled in Orange County in 1811, five years before the County was established and A focal point of the settlement was the church. Indiana became a state. In 1843, Thomas and Matilda Roberts sold one acre of their 120 acres to five trustees for These settlers were free citizens who fled its establishment. The deed states the trustees racial persecution and increasingly restrictive (Elias Roberts, Mathew Thomas, Thomas laws for free blacks in their previous home in Roberts, Isaac Scott, and Samuel Chandler) North Carolina. Traveling with the Quakers were to erect or cause to erect a house or offered some protection on their journey and place of worship for use by the members of the promise of supportive neighbors upon the African Episcopal Church (AME) of the their arrival. United States of America. This church oper- ated from 1843-1869. According to the census records, there were 96 blacks living in Orange County in 1820. As This AME church was near the site of the more blacks came to the area they purchased colored Methodist Union Meeting House. The land from the United States of America (pat- Methodist Union Meeting House was built in ented) in what we now call the Lick Creek 1837 on land owed by Ishmael Roberts. It is African American Settlement area. Other names unclear when the Methodist Union Meeting the area has been called are Little Africa, House was abandoned, but it was probably South Africa and Paddy's Garden. The first replaced by the new AME church. African - Americans to purchase land in the Lick Creek area were Mathew Thomas in Near the AME Church is the Thomas and 1831, and Benjamin Roberts, Peter Lindley, Roberts family cemetery. There are at least and Elias Roberts all in 1832. By 1855, the 14 marked headstones. Burials occurred settlement reached its maximum size of 1,557 between 1856-1891. The presence of profes- acres. sionally made stones attest to the family's By 1860, 260 blacks lived in Orange County. wealth. The last person to be buried there Almost a third of them lived in Southeast was Simon Locust in 1891. He served in the Township in the Lick Creek African American Civil War in Company E of the 13th Infantry Settlement, at that time a racially integrated Regiment of the U.S. Colored Troops. community. One of the few sources of information on For More Information: the residents of Lick Creek African American Hoosier National Forest Settlement comes from their freedom papers 811 Constitution Avenue filed in the County Courthouse. When the Bedford, IN 47421 overseas slave trade ended, the practice of (812) 275-5987 kidnapping free blacks and selling them into Toll Free: 1-866-302-4173 slavery in Kentucky became prevelant. Once Federal relay for deaf and kidnapped, the free blacks had little recourse. hearing impaired: 1-800-877-8339 There is also a County Register of 1853 which According to early histories, Chambersburg After the black landowners left the area, the land was a station on the underground railroad. was purchased by white neighbors who contin- Apparently it was the first stop north of the ued farming until they were unable to pay their Ohio River. The Quakers in the area were taxes. Many lost their land in the 1930's. This instrumental in this effort and the former Eli area is now part of the Hoosier National Forest Lindley House may have been this station. and is the focus of ongoing archaeological re- search. At the end of the Civil War, the population at Lick Creek began to sharply decline and by Further sources of information: the early 1900's the African Americans were Heinegg, Paul gone. In fact, many left in the year 1862. 1992; Free African Americans in North Why they left is still a mystery. Several factors Carolina. probably contributed to this decline. The war Robbins, Coy was in progress, a boom of industry occurred 1994; Indiana Negro Registers, 1852-1865. in nearby cities, and racial pressure was Heritage Books. increasing with the establishment of anti-black 1994; Forgotten Hoosiers: African Heritage organizations. The last resident of Lick Creek in Orange County, Indiana. Heritage Books. Settlement was William Thomas who sold his Orange County Historical Society land in 1902. 1884; History of Orange County. Republished by the Orange County Geneological Society in 1985. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and provider. Paoli S.R. 56 To Salem > Legend U. S. Trails selection 15 0 NFS Land S . R Parking . 3 7 E 0 5 2 Chambersburg d a o R y v E a r 5 Lick 7 350 S G 4 e Creek s a Settlement e To 390 S r H G ar di ns bu rg > 450 S Large print copies available on request. E 0 1 3 725 S.
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