Our Earliest Indiana Ancestors - The Erwins and Whittinghills: Part 1

 

America in 1820

Our earliest ancestors to settle in Indiana were the Erwins and the Whitinghills in 1818. 


But first, we'll revisit our 2nd great-grandmother, Nancy Jane (Dougan) Rainey (1847- c.1876), our 2nd great-grandfather Everett Rainey's wife, who died in a kitchen fire with their daughter Sarah (b. 1867). Because Everett remarried in March 1877 to Polly Ann Early, I thought Nancy and Sarah died only a few months earlier and Everett had to find a wife to care for our great-grandfather James Samuel (1868-1954) and his sister Cordelia (1872-1918) while Everett farmed. I looked in vain for a report of their deaths in The Jerome Observer, a weekly newspaper published in a nearby county, which had a gruesome column titled "Haps and Mishaps" that detailed tragic deaths. I searched only the cooler months of 1875 and 1876 because Pat Raney recalls hearing that little Sarah was making hot chocolate for her father and brother when her dress caught fire. But he farmed next to where his mother lived, so she most likely cared for the children until he remarried. You can refresh your memory on the awful event HERE.

Nancy Jane Dougan's and her brother Peter's mother was Mary Ann "Polly" Erwin (1817-1850), first wife of their father Samuel B. Dougan (1820-1870). You'll recall that the Dougans immigrated from County Donegal in the early 1700s to Pennsylvania, then down to North Carolina Colony in time to fight in the American Revolution. After the war some Dougans migrated into Tennessee and northern Alabama before heading up to Dyer County in western Tennessee (to settle on a Dougan Revolutionary War veteran's land grant), and finally up into southern Indiana by about 1830. 

Dyer County, Tennessee

Samuel B. Dougan (1820-1870), our 3rd great-grandfather, and Charles Carl Dougan (1816-1896) were apparently brothers (as a descendant of Charles Carl recently informed me through Ancestry.com). She also says it's her family's tradition that they were orphans, taken along on the Dougan migration to Tennessee and Indiana. I was uncertain on the identities of their fathers or, as it turned out, father. Whatever their Dougan lineage, after moving up to Indiana with the Dougan clan, they each married an Erwin. 

Warrick County, Indiana

In 1842 in Warrick County, Mary Ann "Polly" Erwin (1817-1850), our 3rd great-grandmother, married Samuel, and her niece, Sarah Elizabeth Erwin (1843-1917), later became Charles Carl's 2nd wife. But that's not all.  In those days Polly was a nickname for Mary and earlier another Mary "Polly" Erwin (1812-1886), our Polly's aunt, married a Dougan uncle or cousin named Samuel A. (allegedly for "Alabama") Dougan (1810-1862). These pairings caused me no end of frustration as I tried again and again to marry the correct Erwin women to the correct Dougan men in my tree. And wouldn't you know that in the 1850 censuses, both Samuel B. and brother Charles Carl had daughters named Nancy. Eventually I noticed that Charles Carl's daughter was Nancy E. Dougan and Samuel B. Dougan's daughter was Nancy J. Dougan. And that's when I realized Samuel B. Dougan was our 3rd great-grandfather. After Polly's death in 1850, Samuel remarried and had numerous children. 

Our 3rd great-uncle Peter Dougan

 By 1860 when he was 15, Polly's son Peter Dougan (1845-1922) was farmed out to John Erwin, his uncle. He married Sarah Jane Bass in 1863, and then enlisted with Company I Indiana 42nd Infantry Regiment on March 8, 1864, was promoted to Full Corporal and Mustered out on May 17, 1865.

Sherman T. Dougan, son of Samuel B. Dougan from his 2nd marriage. I wonder if he looked like his dad. He resembles his half-brother Peter.

Turning now to the Erwins. Polly Erwin's parents were William Erwin (1790-1855) and Elizabeth Whitinghill (1794-1859), our 4th great-grandparents. 

William Erwin was born in 1790 in Virginia. Based on the 1810 census, he may have been living in Henry County, Kentucky, with his parents, Joseph Erwin (5th great-grandfather) and an unknown mother. 

Henry County, Kentucky

He married Elizabeth Whittinghill in Ohio County, Kentucky, on 10 Dec 1816. 

Ohio County, Kentucky

They had Polly, their oldest, in Kentucky before moving to Warrick County, Indiana, in 1818, our earliest ancestors to settle in Indiana, where they had four more children. William Erwin died in 1855 at age 65. It's through his son John Erwin that we learn a bit about the family. 

 A History of Warrick, Spencer and Perry Counties, Indiana was published in 1885 by Goodspeed Bros. Co. It published the histories of many American counties, sending out salesmen to approach prominent county officials, businessmen and farmers, obtain family biographies and solicit subcriptions for each county history. It was in a way a vanity scam, just as present-day Who's Who in America books are, but those old books became a boon to researchers. William Erwin's son and Polly's younger brother John (1820-1892) was approached. Perhaps he was shown his family's name in the Lane Township history already printed.
 
Among the first substantial settlers in this township the Gentry family occupies an important place. Among the first was William Gentry, who came in 1821, and Matthew Gentry in 1822, both from North Carolina. They located on land not far from the village of Folsomville, and were for years prominent in county affairs. The first purchase of land in the township was in 1820, when William Erwin became the owner of eighty acres in Section 33. . . .

John must have been shown not only his father's name, but that of his maternal uncle David Whitinghill, son of his grandfather Peter Whitinghill.
 
Lane Township is the one last organized of any in the county [out] of Owen Township. It was named in honor of Gen. Joseph Lane, one of America's illustrious men, who was at one time a resident . . . . Prominent among its early settlers was William Scales ... Stephen Hanby, David Whitinghill . . . 

Then the salesman would have asked for John Erwin's family history to be added to the book . . . and how many subscriptions would he like for himself and as gifts for family members. This is what appeared about our 4th great-uncle:

John Erwin, farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Owen Township, in this county and State, May 24, 1820, and is the second of six children born to the marriage of William Erwin and Elizabeth Whitinghill, who were natives respectively of Virginia and Pennsylvania. William Erwin came to Warrick County, Ind., at the early year of 1818, and the county never knew a more loyal citizen. He died in 1855. John Erwin received his education from the old-fashioned log-schoolhouse of that day, and until twenty years old assisted his parents on the home farm. September 17, 1839, Mary J. Carnahan became his wife, and by him the mother of five children named Minerva, Sarah E., Nancy E., John F., and Mary. He was married to his second wife, who was formerly Alice Bethell, April 15, 1859. Mr. Erwin began life's battle a poor boy, and by industry and good management has secured a comfortable home and valuable property. Although a Democrat of the stanchest kind, he is by no means an office seeker. Notwithstanding he has served over eight years as Trustee of Lane Township, and over two years as County Commissioner, in each office serving his constituents with fidelity and credit.
 
Pretty heady stuff.

 In my next blog I'll tell you about Elizabeth Whitinghill Erwin's  father Peter Whitinghill (1752-1844) (our 5th great-grandfather), and the mystery regarding his origins.