Alderman place, well known to all the old settlers as being on the west side of Indian Creek, nearly opposite to the farms of Hiram Vincent and Judiah Ray. George N. Kirkman came to the county in 1851; he opened the farm on which he lived till the date of his tragic death. Milton Arnold and William V. Alderman came in with the family of Elisha Alderman, and lived in Section 4, Township 82, Range 22.
The name and fame of S. H. Dye are perpetuated in the name of the stream known as the Harvey Dye Branch of Indian Creek. He built a cabin on the bluff east of that stream, in the edge of the grove, not far from the southeast corner of Section 12 in Nevada Township. He had secured rights on several hundred acres of land, but permitted what would now be a fortune to slip through his fingers. Mrs. Dye was a daughter of the Widow Hague, who came into the township in the spring of 1853, and settled with her sons and daughters in Section 36, Richland Township. Those who had already located or squatted (as the taking of a claim was called) along East Indian Creek were James Hall, E. H. Billings, Horace Heald, Jennings Wilkinson and his son David, Charles Lucas, M. E. Miller, Sam McDaniel, Barnabas Lowell, Thomas Kirkman, Joe Cox, John Cox, Adolphus Prouty, I. S. French, Nelson Harmon and Hiram Vincent.
The body of timber on East Indian, mostly in Sections 12, 13, 14, 23 and 24, was known as the Big Grove on Indian Creek. In and around this was the nucleus of the most northerly settlement on the creek. Hall and Lucas, brothers-in-law, lived north of the line of the Chicago & North-Western Railway. Hall's claim was bought by and was long the home of the Widow Hague. In her possession it often afforded shelter and food to the emigrant, the land-seeker and the traveler. Mrs. Hague bought Hall's claim in Section 36 in the spring of 1853; Hall was the first settler in Richland Township. The Wilkinsons lived south of the railway, their claims embracing, probably, most of the farms now owned by James Cook, and the brothers, Thomas and Oliver Ashford. One of the cabins in which they lived was between the Ashford places, about thirty rods northeast of Oliver Ashford's house. Thomas Kirkman's place is that known as the old John Ford farm, recently sold by Fred, Norris to Dr. Hostetter. This was probably the first place settled in New Albany Township.
Three brothers named Cox-John, Joe and another-came into the Big Grove on Indian Creek. John Cox built a cabin near where W. W. Utterback now lives. He sold his claim to Utterback, and the latter moved into the cabin late in the fall of 1852. Utterback lived in the cabin for two years, and has continuously owned and lived on that farm. Joe Cox settled on the Wiggins place, north of John's cabin, and built a very small house, or pen of logs. He also cleared the timber off a small patch of ground, and planted some vegetables. Utterback first bargained for Joe Cox's place, but learning that it was a part of the selected school lands he was fearful of not obtaining title, and secured John Cox's claim and cabin. The other brother made a claim on Section 23, which, with his cabin, he sold to Samuel McDaniel. Horace Heald lived in the southeast quarter of Section 26, and his place appears to have been a resort of the moral people of the community. Jerry Cory, of Iowa Center, a Baptist, and Dr. Jessup, of Cory Grove, sometimes preached there. It was in Heald's cabin that the coroner's jury investigated the death of Mrs. Lowell. M. E. Miller lived a short distance south of McDaniel's place.
The center of interest, however, in the early days of the Indian Creek settlement was in