History  of  Brandywine Township
Shelby  County,  Indiana
Brandywine Twp:  Township 13, 14 North - Range 6 East
Plat Directory distributed by the Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, 1997.

          Brandywine Township is bounded on the north by Moral and Van Buren, on the east by Marion and Addison, on the south by Addison and Hendricks, and on the west by Sugar Creek Township.  It was organized March 7, 1843.  The first settlers of this part of Shelby County were:
Robert Hankins
Bissell Burr
Hugh Campbell
Lewis Morgan
Daniel Williams
James Norville
David Bradley
John Nail
Daniel Campbell
Jeremiah, Joseph and Isaac Odell
John Oldham
Byrom Harrell
George W. Holmes
Rev. Matthew Sedgwick
John Griffith
Edward and Joseph Hunt
John Brierly
Benjamin Bass
James H. Gregory
George Updegraff
Samuel Derrick
Herman Updegraff and Hally Helper.


          There are five excellent turnpikes in the township; eight schoolhouses, two of them brick buildings, and five churches.
          Brandywine River flows through, in a southwesterly direction.  The eastern half is somewhat broken and hilly, while the western half is level.  In the Brandywine bottoms the soil is very good; a great deal of tile-draining has already been done, and more is in progress.
          Brandywinetown, now called Pin-Hook, is the oldest town, having been organized August 6, 1832. It was founded by Rev. Lewis Morgan, who kept the first "temperance" tavern in Shelby County.
          Fairland is one of the largest towns in the county.  It was founded October 21, 1852; is the terminus of the F.,F.& M.R.R., and located at its junction with the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette Railroad.  It has two churches, Baptist and Methodist Episcopal; a graded school; a newspaper, The Bulletin, under the editorship of Harry Freeman; Masonic, I.O.O.F. and  A.O.U.W. organizations; eight stores; three grain warehouses; hotel; depot and post office. It is an important shipping-point, and is situated in one of the best agricultural sections of the county.
          Among the handsomely improved farms of this section are the following:

Jeremiah Odell
William Hankins
Joseph Montgomery
W.C. Wanee
William Weaver
Philip Gephard
William and John Goodwin
James Norville
George W. Holmes, Sr.
Nathaniel Poland
Rev. Matthew Sedgwick

         Among the citizens who have occupied public positions are the following: The late Hon. Isaac Odell, who was in the first state legislature; Hugh Campbell, Louis Fessenback and Daniel T. Culbertson, who were County Commissioners; and our present Auditor, J.L. Carson. John R. Sedgwick, a son of Rev. Matthew Sedgwick, has for more than twelve years been assistant in various county offices. The Hon. James H. Gregory, the first State Senator from Shelby County, was also a resident of this township.
From the Atlas of Shelby Co., Indiana, Chicago:  J.H. Beers & Co, 1880.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

The  Shelby  Democrat
March 5, 1879
----------
News and Gossip Picked Up on the Fly,
By Our Vigilant Reporters.
-----0-----
ALL  ALONG  THE  WAY
----0----
Fairland.
(Special Correspondence of  The Democrat.)
FAIRLAND, IND., MARCH 1, 1879.    
          ---Mr. Dickson,  Mrs. Irena Reed,  Miss Phebe Cherry, and  Mrs. Roberts, are on the sick list.
          ---Mrs. Nerva Porter, who has been very sick with lung fever for two weeks past, is able to be out again.
          ---Miss Nannie Dodd  and  Miss Sallie Bradley, of Indianapolis, have been visiting friends and relatives here, for a week past.
          ---The oyster supper given at  Mrs. Lewis Ray's  Saturday night, was enjoyed very much by those present.  The band made sweet music -- music that would do credit to any city.
          ---"Peter Pindar,"  the Fairland correspondent, wanted to know if  "Grandma" was posting, and if that was the reason she remained silent.  No, not pouting, only resting; besides there was some one else writing, and I think one correspondent from any small place is enough.
          ---I agree with "Sigourney" -- I don't like to have my sex spoken of disparagingly, be it ever so little.  Now, "Sigourney," be present at the next correspondents' meeting, and bring with you that "love of a bonnet" that you are to wager, and I will be there and wager my false teeth that "Brutus," the wicked Fountaintown correspondent, is another gent, that has no little daring spouse at home to dose him with soothing syrups.  Now, I don't wish to quarrel with our editors or correspondents, but they must except some women -- they don't all "let the cat out of the bag" (using their sentence) "woman-like."
GRANDMA.
(From another Correspondent.)
FAIRLAND, IND., MARCH 1, 1879.    
          ---O. T. Johnson  
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

SHELBY  UNION  BANNER
 April 14, 1864
Page 3, column 2
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Township Elections -- Official.
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BRANDYWINE
Trustee.
        Union                Copperhead      
Wm. B. Elder........89   Byram Herrald.....107
Justice.
Wm. Hankins.........86   James B. Holmes...106
James Judd...........2                       
Constable.
 Frank Smelzer.......89   Samuel Brown......101

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