SPARTA TOWNSHIP
Sparta Township, situated in the western central part of Noble County, was first settled by an eccentric individual named John L. Powers, who had previously kept tavern in a small log cabin in the southwestern part of Perry Township. He had been one of the earliest settlers in the county, and it was some time in the year 1832 that he established himself and his family a short distance north of where the railroad crosses the Goshen road. He also lived for some time in a cave in the western part of the township. After a few years he and his family moved West and were no more heard of. The second settler in Sparta was undoubtedly John Dillon, who arrived in the same year as Powers, resided for a number of years in the eastern part, and then moved to Washington Township, where he was still living, an old, but well preserved man, in the early '80s. Within the next three or four years, and previous to the organization of the county in 1836, the above mentioned pioneers or [sic] Sparta Township were followed by a number of others, including John Conklin, Richard Bray, Richard Jeffreys, James Mael, Robert McAfee, Mitchell McClintock, John Johns, Jacob Baker, Charles Murray, Obadiah Tilton, Hartwell Coleman, Daniel Ohlwine, Andrew C. Douglas, Henry Weade and John Davis. Soon after them came Aaron Noe, Michael Beam, Daniel Beam, Charles White, Andrew B. Upson, Nathaniel Prentice, Richard stone, William Weade, John Spear, John C. Johnson, Jacob Kiser, Daniel Stall, John Moore, G. W. Mitchell, James marrow, Elisha Mayfield, Lawrence Miller, Samuel Dungan, Alexander Doud, John Earnhart, William Glayd, Andrew Humphreys, James Smalley, John Spencer, William H. Upson, Thomas H. Wilson, John Pollock, Samuel Mars, Henry Miller, Richard Noe, George Prentice, George Platter, Erastus Atkins and others. A few of these men owned land in the township but did not reside there. McClintock and Tilton were both squatters on the Indian reservation, and when the land was thrown on the market, George Platter entered both of their farms before either had an opportunity of going to the land office for the same purpose. McClintock soon after died, and it was said that his death was largely due to his being cheated out of his land. Tilton returned to New York. Many mean actions of this sort were done in pioneer days, the greed for land, and the desire to profit by the mistakes or negligence of others, overpowering the better instincts. John Johns, who was among the early settlers mentioned, after many years went west to Iowa, and was finally made a delegate to Chicago Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. Charles White had been made an orphan at the age of two years by the massacre of his parents by the Indians at Wyoming, Pennsylvania. He was rescued from the savages by a man named White, whose name he took. David Stall also bore the name of a man who adopted him, both of his parents having died on the voyage from Germany to the United States.
The first election in the township was held at Sparta in about the year 1838, only seven votes being polled, though there were probably twice that many voters then living there. Richard Bray was inspector of election, and he appointed two judges and two clerks. Election to township office was then merely an empty honor, there being no remuneration for service, and it is said that on a subsequent occasion, when two men had received the same number of votes for an office, they played euchre to see which should serve, the loser to take the office. The first court in the county was convened at the house of Adam Engle, on Perry's Prairie, and for a short time Sparta had the honor of being the county seat, though no courthouse was ever erected there. Forty votes were polled at the election in 1840.
The first sawmill in the township was built in the southwestern part, on Turkey Creek, about 1847, by Thomas H. Bothwell and Thomas H. Wilson. It had a capacity of about 2,000 feet a day, and was operated until about 1862, when it was replaced by another erected half a mile further down stream by Leander Eagles and Thomas H. Bothwell. The second mill was afterwards bought by David Gauz and George Mellinger, who removed it to Kosciusko County. A new mill was erected on its sit by Leander Eagles, in the spring of 1865. It was a more modern structure, provided with a thirty-five horse-power engine, and having a capacity of 6,000 to 8,000 feet per day. In 1853 a sawmill was built by Mr. Stall, one mile west of the Prentice residence, but in a short time it was removed to Cromwell, where it was operated for a number of years by various parties, its timbers being finally used in the construction of a large gristmill at Cromwell, erected by the Miller Brothers, which was operated until the early '80s. A sawmill put up by Hezekiah Mayfield in the eastern part of the township, was also moved to Cromwell, where, under the management of different parties, it turned out large quantities of native lumber. It was finally replaced by a better structure. Other sawmill proprietors in former days were Mr. Herron, Mr. Cavanaugh and Joel Sechrist, whose mills were all in the southern part of the township.
There is a record, based mainly on tradition, that a man named Beers, under instructions from the United States Government, at some date previous to the white settlement of Sparta, made a brick kiln and manufactured enough brick from the soil or clay of the township to build a brick house for the Indian chief Wah-wa-es-sa, or Flat Belly, as he was more familiarly called. The date of this event is placed variously in different years between 1816 (when the Indian treaty was signed), to 1821. however it may be, the work was poorly done, or the material worthless, as the building soon tumbled down, and the pioneer settlers used the brick for building hearths and chimneys. The kiln from which the brick was made must have been the first one constructed in Northern Indiana.
In June, 1836, Isaac Spencer and R. I. Dawson laid out the plat of a village on sections 13 and 24, which they called Sparta. Two hundred and thirty-six lots were laid off into blocks of twelve lots each, certain lots and blocks being reserved fro a public square and for school and church purposes. A postoffice was established as early as the fall of 1836, with Isaac Spencer as postmaster, and within a couple of years Col. John Spencer and Wesley White opened general stores. The first county seat of Noble County was fixed at Sparta early in May, 1836, and a small building was erected for public [sic] offices; but the honor was of short duration, for in July of the following year the county seat was removed to Augusta. The population of the village had never exceeded twenty-five, and it soon dwindled to almost nothing. In 1838 there was a postoffice at New Hope, in the northern part of the township, and there Nelson Prentiss opened a store, an enterprise, however, which he soon abandoned. The little village of Kimmell sprang up in more recent times, owing chiefly to the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, on whose line it is situated. It practically occupies the site of the former Village of Sparta, and has now a population of about 250, with elevators, stores and churches, and the Kimmell State bank, which was organized in 1918, previous to which time the nearest banking point was Ligonier.
The Village of Cromwell, a larger community settlement, was laid out in June, 1853, by the county surveyor, who was employed by Harrison Wood, the proprietor. The location was at the juncture of Jefferson and Orange streets, twenty-eight lots being laid out from the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 16. Previous to this, in 1849, Abel Mullen had built a log house on the site, and also a small building in which he began the manufacture of black salts from ashes obtained from the surrounding cabins and log heaps. This business he gave up within a few years, having found it unprofitable. The village was named by Mr. Wood in honor of the great Protector, and because, as Mr. Wood said, he "was a good Republican." Its early growth was low. Aaron Moore opened and conducted a general store, of which he continued the proprietor until the construction of the railroad. Other early merchants were A. D. Maggert, Jeremiah Carstetter and Abel Mullen. There is some doubt as to who was the first postmaster, as in a former record that honor is ascribed both to Abel Mullen and James Parks. Aaron Moore was probably the second or third. Isaac McCammon opened the first blacksmith shop, and about 1866 George H. Reed started a shop for the manufacture of wagons and sleighs, which he carried on for ten or twelve years. Charles Gran and Eli Messimore were merchants in the early '80s, or about that time. The first doctor in the village was probably Dr. John Gants, who located there in the spring of 1858. Doctors Tucker and Crump also settled there at an early date. The place of the early business and professional men has been taken by later comers, some of whom will be found mentioned in other parts of this volume, as also are its churches and schools. The Advance, a republican newspaper, was established in 1912, by F. B. Robbins, who is conducting it successfully. In 1904 the Cromwell State Bank was organized and furnishes convenient financial accommodations to the people of the village and the surrounding country. The population of Cromwell is now about 550.
Indian Village is an old settlement in section 30. It contains several stores and two churches, both of the United Brethren sect, one of which belongs to the radical, and the other to the liberal branch of the society.
Robert M. Waddell, History of northeast Indiana: LaGrange, Steuben, Noble and DeKalb Counties, Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1920, Noble County, pgs. 431-433.