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Historian Tippin dispels myths about early Putnam history
Think you know Putnam County history?
Chances are, unless your name is Jinsie Bingham, John Baughman, Malcolm Romine and perhaps one or two others, Larry Tippin is out of your league.
Though a CPA by trade, Tippin has been known for several years as the county historian, and he shared just a bit of that knowledge Thursday evening during the annual joint meeting of the Putnam County Soil and Water Conservation District and Putnam County Extension.
In line with his audience and the reasons for the gathering, Tippin focused much of his talk on agricultural history in the county.
However, Tippin spent the early portion of his talk dispelling a couple of persistent myths related to the early history of Greencastle and Putnam County.
One of these revolves around Greencastle founder Ephraim Dukes.
“A lot of people say Ephraim Dukes named the town after his hometown of Greencastle, Pa.,” Tippin said. “That is absolutely not true.”
Tippin then briefly traced the life of Dukes, who did indeed donate the land that became the “seat of justice” and ensured Greencastle would be the county seat.
Dukes was born in Maryland, not Pennsylvania, and later resided in the Lexington, Ky., area. He later made his way north and served as a delegate to the Ohio state constitutional convention.
Later, Dukes’ name shows up in Monroe County, before he made his way to the area that would become Putnam County. After about 20 years in this area, he moved north and helped found LaPorte.
Some have pointed out that Dukes’ wife was from Pennsylvania. While this is true, Tippin pointed out she was from all the way across the state and also had no connection to that other Greencastle.
“We also know that he did not name Greencastle at all,” Tippin said.
This springs from newspaper clippings from before Dukes’ arrival referring to the area — not yet officially founded — as Greencastle.
So where did the name come from? Tippin said it isn’t clear but one theory revolves around patrons of the settlement’s tavern overindulging (and turning green) and then, as they left, believing the building looked “like a castle.”
It makes for an inauspicious origin, to say the least.
And what of the name Putnam County?
It’s common knowledge that it’s named for Revolutionary War General Israel Putnam, correct?
As Baughman pointed out in an essay from a generation ago, that’s not actually clear.
There were actually two Gen. Putnams who served in the war for independent — Israel, known for his efforts at the Battle of Bunker Hill, as well as his cousin Rufus, who served as chief engineer for the Continental Army.
While Israel Putnam’s exploits at Breed’s Hill (which, Tippin reminded his listeners, is where the misnamed battle actually took place) made for better reading, Rufus may have had an even more lasting effect.
As chief engineer, one of Rufus Putnam’s primary duties was the design of forts. He helped identify one of the most important strategic points of the entire war, a westward bend of the Hudson River. Several smaller fortifications as well as Fort Putnam were constructed at this important location.
Fort Putnam and the entire post served the colonies well throughout the war, even when Benedict Arnold tried to turn it over to the British.
Indeed West Point, as it came to be known, still serves the United States quite well to this day, as the location of the United States Military Academy.
Rufus Putnam’s reach went well beyond the revolution, though. He went on to explore and survey much of the Northwest Territory, including present-day Indiana, even negotiating peace with the locals in the Vincennes area.
So, the question remains, which Putnam was the county named after? In carving Putnam County out of parts of Owen and Vigo counties, the Indiana General Assembly didn’t make it clear, only noting it was after a Revolutionary general.
Tippin, though, leans to the Putnam who actually had Midwestern — or Northwestern, in the parlance of the times — ties.
“One could make a strong argument that Putnam County was named after Rufus Putnam,” Tippin said, “and not Israel Putnam, who went back to Massachusetts after the war and lived out his life quietly, never setting foot in the Midwest.”
Even the date of the county’s founding is something of a mystery.
The Indiana General Assembly issued the original decree creating the county in 1821, putting in place five commissioners tasked with setting up a seat of justice for the new county, something they failed to do.
“The five men who were supposed to select the seat of justice did not do their duties and the General Assembly was not happy,” Tippin said.
The chagrined legislators then put in place five new men, who carried out the task, reaching the agreement with Dukes to put the seat of justice in Greencastle on the land he donated for the purpose.
Newly founded, agriculture quickly found its way into the local legal system, as the first known court case, dated 1822, was a civil matter regarding roving hogs.
Much of the county’s agricultural heritage is less contentious, though.
Tippin spoke of Reuben Ragan, an early settler responsible for planting a number of orchards in the county.
Active in statewide organizations like the Indiana Horticultural Society, Ragan and his wife once raised what was determined to be the best apple crop in Indiana. For their efforts, they were awarded a set of silver spoons.
“These would probably be one of the most valuable artifacts in Putnam County history,” Tippin said. “If any of the family is still around and knows where they are, these would be something to see.”
Tippin then moved on to Dr. Alexander Stevenson, a physician who got bored with the practice, so he started farming east of Greencastle on a homestead known as Apple Yard.
Stevenson helped introduce both bluegrass and shorthorn cattle to the area. The former was found to be more hearty than the native grass.
As for the cattle, Stevenson even traveled to England to learn more about raising the animals. He even brought back a bull and heifer, aptly named Prince Albert and Queen Victoria.
Apple Yard remained a working farm for quite a few years, later passing to the Wright family and then to the Ballard family. The house was even on the National Register of Historic Places until it was moved from its original site (just east of the current Walmart entrance) back to Ballard Lane, adjacent to the Putnam County Airport.
There was also Col. Alexander Farrow, who set up his farm around Nine Mile and was also instrumental in bringing shorthorns and bluegrass to the area.
Farrow also exhibited a horse at the first Putnam County Fair that was named the best in its class, though exactly which class is lost to history.
After running through a number of other farmers from history, Tippin finished up with John Harbison, whom listeners of a certain age could remember being named “World Corn King” seven times in the 1960s and 1970s.
Tippin ended by noting that he could talk for hours on the subject — a fact that anyone who’s attended his “Tiny Towns and Vanished Villages” series at the Putnam County Museum understands — but he had reached his 30-minute limit.