HISTORY OF TOWNSHIPS
These came from the 1968 Lawrence County Sesquicentennial book . The author is unknown.

ALLISON.
This township was first organized under the name of Thompson, but was subsequently changed to Allison. An Allison was the first white man who settled within its limits. He was a very expert hunter, and so skillful in Indian warfare, that he could steal close enough to an Indian to touch him before he perceived him. He had several sons, one of whom married Miss Rebecca Moody, an English lady, who had run bullets for the patriots in an old oven at the battles of Bunker Hill and Cowpens, and at several other engagements.

We find also connected with this precinct an anecdote that cannot here be omitted: It was within the boundaries of this township, near Brown's Mill, on the Embarrass River, that Tecumseh encamped, during the war of 1812. He had fifteen hundred warriors with him. History relates that he and his warriors were greatly intimidated by General Harrisson, and that they trembled like leaves of the forest before that brave soldier. But Austin Tann, an old colored resident of that locality, who was present at the war council, told Mr. Gold, time and again, that it was quite the other way- that Harrisson was greatly intimidated by the great Indian warrior, and that he quailed before him.

RUSSELL.
This township was organized in March, 1857. It was first settled by the Allisons, Mills, Prices, and Stockwells. It was in this township that Fort Allison was built for protection against the Indians. It was situated near the present site of Russellville. This fortification afforded considerable protection to the early settlers, all of whom speak of it while relating their early experience.

Russellville is the only town in the township. It has a post-office, to which the mail is carried to and from Lawrenceville by a mail carrier. It is built on the banks of the Wabash River, which is navigable, and thus affords a ready communication with Vincennes by boat. In this township many farms on the banks of the Wabash used to be subject to overflow. But now they have constructed a magnificent levee, which has reclaimed thousands of acres of the richest bottom lands.

DENNISON.
This portion of the County was first settled by Joseph Arpas and William Spenser. But most of the early settlers were French, who located in and around St. Francisville which is a very old town. The Buchanans were also very early settlers, and have proved worthy and distinguished citizens. Mr. Walter Buchanan, whose home is in this township, has attained to great celebrity as an engineer being the County Surveyor for many years. This family came from Kentucky.

The first school-house was built in the Gillespie settlement, and the first church was called Pisgah Church, and was erected by a Presbyterian congregation.

The land of this township, as it is perhaps more wooded than any other, is peculiarly adapted to wheat Indian Creek runs through it, and there is a great deal of bottom and wood land on either side of it.

LAWRENCE.
Lawrenceville, which is located in this township, on the Embarrass river, is the County seat of Lawrence County, and is one of the oldest towns in the State. In 1819 there was a mill and a blacksmith shop there. In 1848 it was a very business place, doing a large trade with the South by means of flat boats. But the 0. & M. R. R. has injured it considerably, and drawn a great deal of the trade to Vincennes. But it is within a mile and a half of the center of a very fertile County, and will probably in time become a place of some importance.

The land in this township is excellent. It is generally rolling, and in some places broken, which is caused by the Embarrass river flowing through it. This is also the occasion of much swampy and wooded land, which is subject to overflow, not only from its own head waters, but from the backing up of the Wabash. This is a disadvantage, but the County is settling up rapidly, and levees are being constructed as a protection against high water. In a few years, therefore, this unwelcome intrusion will be considerably interrupted if not altogether removed.

When the question was agitated where the County seat should be located, Col. Dubois very generously donated fifty acres at Lawrenceville as an inducement. This was accepted, and in 1846 a very substantial brick court-house and jail were built at Lawrenceville.

The first and only execution at this County seat was that of a woman for poisoning her husband.

BOND.
Rev. John Dollahan, a Methodist minister, and Joseph Prichey were amongst the first settlers in this township. Then came the Childers, Randolphs, Heaths, Nays, and others. Mr. Adam Beck used to keep a post-office in this township, but this has been discontinued; the citizens, however, desire its return.

The most remarkable thing about this township is its mineral wealth. Beneath its fertile soil lies vast undeveloped resources in coal, lead, iron, and other minerals. These will some day be worked, and will add greatly to the wealth of the County.

A new line of railroad, the Paris and Danville, is in process of construction through this township. Mr. Owen Pinkstaff, who lives on Section 8, has contracted for a switch to be made on his farm. This will be of great advantage to the farmers, as they can ship their produce, and receive their supplies so much more readily.

LUKIN.
Lukin Township occupies the south-west corner of Lawrence County, and comprises parts of townships, two---range thirteen; three---thirteen; two---twelve; and three---twelve. The Bonpass creek, with its branches, traverses the western part of the township, and through the eastern part, flows the waters of the Little Raccoon. The township is mostly timbered. There is but little prairie, and this little lies on the eastern border of the township. This bears the name of Lukin prairie, and received its name from the same man and family, after whom the township was afterward named. The township has generally been strongly democratic in politics.

There are some fine improvements. Among the early settlers were Alexander Turner, Elijah Gaddey, Edward Moore, John McQuire, Joshua Jones, the father of Thomas L. Jones, now of Sumner, John Milligan, William Ridgeley, and a man named Curry. Families by the name of Moore and Gaddey, who were among the earliest settlers still reside in the township. There is no town of any importance in the township, and no railroad passes through the territory. Solomon Keneipp, now deceased, was also one of the earliest settlers.

BRIDGEPORT.
This precinct was organized in 1872, by taking two and a half sections from the east side of Christy. It was first settled by Kentuckians'. Samuel Clubb, who came in the Fall of 1817, was the first settler. He was followed by James Lanterman in 1818.

The first church and school-house were built at Springhill in 1820-22. The first church was built by the New Lights, or old Christian Church.

The face of the country in an early day was diversified by brush and prairie, but when settled up, and the fire kept out, the brush sprang up rapidly into timber, and that section is now well wooded. The land, as in most parts of the County, is rich, and produces excellent wheat.

The first store-house was built in 1853, by a gentleman named Sam. Thorn.

The town of Bridgeport, though younger than Lawrenceville, is a thriving little place, and does a good deal of business.

CHRISTY.
One of the first settlers of the territory now embraced in Christy Township was Peter Shidler. He settled on the old Indian trace, now the State road, two miles and a half north-east of the present town of Sumner, and lived in a tent on first coming to the neighborhood. John Higgins, another old pioneer, settled half a mile east of Sumner, and Daniel Stultz located two miles south. Benjamin Sumner settled two miles and a half south-east of the town, and Joseph Williams was also an old resident, and a neighbor of the Sumners. Joshua Dudley lived in the same neighborhood. Henry Sherraden, whose residence at present is in Sumner, is an old Settler of Lawrence County. George W. Petty came from Ohio in 1838; J. B. Sumner was born in the County in 1834; Andrew A. Mulligan in 1831; H. Lucas, a native of Kentucky, came to the County in 1829; Philo Bell's father came from Ohio in 1839, and settled west of the site of Sumner, and in 1850 Abraham Piper came from Pennsylvania to the same neighborhood. H. S. Gines was born in the County in 1834; Edward Heath from North Carolina, in 1840; Joseph Knapper, from Pennsylvania, in 1839; Jacob Severns from Virginia in 1830; Elizabeth Williams from Kentucky in 1829; J. V. Shick, from Ohio, in 1842; and Marshall Stivers from Kentucky, in 1826.

Most of the township is timbered. A description of the town of Sumner will be found elsewhere. The town received its name, not from the Hon. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, but from the family of that name, whose early residence in the County we have recorded above.

The grandfather of Mr. J. S. Christy, of Sumner was one of the first settlers of Lawrence County in this neighborhood; and his son, William Young Christy, was afterwards a prominent man in the Legislature. Christy and afterward the township. enterprising business towns Mississippi Railroad runs east to west a little north of and represented the County prairie was named from him, Sumner is one of the most: in the County. The Ohio and through the township from the center.

PETTY.
One of the finest agricultural regions of Lawrence County is embraced in Petty Township, in the north-west part of the County. It contains a considerable proportion of prairie land most of it under a fine state of cultivation. The township received its name from families by the Petty, who were among the early settlers of this part of the County. Moses Petty settled in the neighborhood of where the Pettys now live, south-east of the center of the township. He came to Lawrence County from Ohio. Among the other early residents were Jacob Lewis; John Laws, from South Carolina; Edward Dutton; Arthur Watts came from Scott County, Indiana, in 1840, and settled just south of Chauncey in the property on which David A. Watts now resides. John Decker is an old resident in the southern part of the township, who came from Harrison County, Indiana, in 1839.

One of the prominent citizens of the township is Mr. James F. Jennings, who has been a resident of the County since 1852. Pargin Slough in the northern and eastern part of the township received its name from Peter Pargin. Mr. Pargin was born in Maryland, but was raised in Perry County, Ohio. He was married in 1820, and came to Lawrence County in 1821. Thomas Shaw, a native of Ireland, came to the County in 1838: J. M. Lewis, in 1832; Josiah Petty, in 1841; Wickes Devonshire, a native of England, in 1830; George and Henry Stout are also old residents. J. J. Waggoner in 1847; Moses Petty, in 1839; J. W. Lewis, in 1840; John L. Parrott, in 1844; and Benjamin Errygin in 1842.

The only town in the township is Chauncey, situated in the northern part, about a mile below the Crawford County line. A rich agricultural district surrounds the town, containing some of the finest improvements in the County. Chauncey contains a fine school building, several churches, and an intelligent and thriving community lives in the neighborhood. Muddy Creek runs through the southern part of the township, and the old Shelbyville road traverses it in a north-west and south- east direction.