Ulmer Ancestry

The Founders of Scottsburg, Indiana

(a little bit of assumption and a whole lot of fact)

After figuring out where the land of Thomas Ulmer was located in the Scottsburg, Indiana area, I realized that the railroad tracks run through the land that he owned. It seems that part of his 120 acres of land after 1848 was used by the railroad. Records indicate the land was recorded as being purchased by Thomas as early as 1827. Thomas would have been only 11 years old at the time, and I'm not sure if this is correct information, or a mistake on the year; maybe it should have been 1837.

However it may have been as early as 1827. After doing more research into the history of the county, I found that the railroad line through that area was chartered as early as 1832. The route was surveyed in 1835, and construction on the line began in 1848.

Late in 1822 there was a group of citizens that wanted the county seat moved from Lexington to a more central location in the county. Their efforts were unsuccessful at that time. Those wanting it moved tried hard again around 1842, but the attempt failed to get it changed, and the fight to have it moved continued on for the next 28 years. There was a constant effort made by some to change the location of the county seat for around 49 years, during the years between 1822 and 1870. The attempts to do so flared up at different time periods until it came about.

This new information makes me wonder, who knew as early as 1832, and maybe even as soon as 1827 or before, that the railroad line was to pass through a certain area of the county. Who bought the land for Thomas Ulmer? Remember he was only eleven years old at that time. And by 1837 the fact that the railroad was coming through would have been known by many. Would this not have made the land more costly for someone, if they had purchased it as late as 1837? I think someone may have known as early as the 1827 date about the railroad, and bought the land in Thomas's name. Or, Thomas would have had to have been a very smart businessman by the time he was eleven.

The very fact that a railroad, starting to pass close to the area of the frontier-pioneer land, would have brought about changes that probably meant many new opportunities to those of the area. From railheads for cattle shipment and other shipments, to passengers coming to, or passing through the area; all would have meant new economical life to the area.

In 1848 construction on the tracks started. And in 1849 Vienna, a small town to the south of Scottsburg, was re-platted nearer the railroad tracks. And in June of 1850 the town of Centreville was platted, by Owen Broshears, William Estil, and John McTarsney.  Centreville lay right along the track line. Centreville, later, also became part of Scottsburg, after Scottsburg grew.

By 1852 the trains started using the line. That year Thomas moved to Illinois. The fight for the county seat to be moved still continued on, with many hard feelings being formed, between those wanting it moved and those who opposed moving it.

In September of 1870, William Cravens Sr., William Cravens Jr., Vincent Cravens, and Horatio Hazzard, represented by their attorney, William K. Marshall, once again petition for the county seat to be relocated. This time the request is for it to be relocated on three acres of land adjoining Centreville. The request was denied.

Then on December 9, 1870, Hugh Loftus, and others represented by attorney, E. C. Hester, presented and filed in court an affidavit containing names of 937 voters, requesting the relocation of the county seat. They requested it be moved to three acres of land conveyed to the county by Henry K. and Louisa Jane Wardell. This time the petition was approved and the county seat was to be moved.

This three acres of land, that the county seat was to be moved to, was part of the adjoining acreage next to Thomas Ulmer's land. It was within the 40 acres owned by the Wardell family, on land that joined Thomas's land; on the west side by Robert Wardell's original 40 acres, William Estil's 80 acres, and Lewis Jones's 40 acres.

In March of 1871, four months after the successful request to have the county seat  moved came about, a new town was recorded with the court. This new town most likely had already been surveyed and mapped by the time Henry K. and Louisa Wardell had donated the three acres of land for the new county seat in December of 1870. This new town's name was to be Scottsburg, as recorded by its land owners, the Wardells. Robert Wardell the original owner of the land died in 1836.  Scottsburg was not named after the county, even though it was in Scott County, but rather after a railroad official whose was the General Superintendant of the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, Colonel Horace Scott. (The railroad later was called the Jefferson Railroad.)

Now to my question again; who knew what, and when, about the railroad as early as 1827? It took many years for it to all work out, but in the end, Robert Wardell's family, William Estil's family, and other people who had owned the land for years, now owned land that not only became the new county seat, but also had a railroad line running right through the land they owned, in the town they owned.

I'm not implying anyone did anything illegal, or sneaky about the chain of events that happened to do with any land ownership, county seat movement, or creating of a town. I am wondering how an eleven year old boy, my ggg grandfather, became somewhat in the center of the events.

Scottsburg grew and now takes up almost all the land that Thomas Ulmer and his grandfather, on his mother's side of the family, owned. Robert Wardell was Elizabeth Wardell Ulmer's father. Elizabeth Wardell Ulmer was the mother of Thomas Ulmer, my great-great-great- grandfather; the land in question is listed as originally being purchased by Thomas, in 1827.

I don't think these men were your average farmers, who happen to own land in the right spot, at the right time. I think they were pioneers, and farmers, who were also outstanding businessmen, that were able to make things happen. They not only took the opportunity to make the best of the railroad running through their property, they got the county seat moved, created a new (their) town, and it became a very important town of the county. It all happened on land they owned.

Ron Ulmer

Read more about who owned what, here.