John S. Shanklin, my great-grandfather, came to what is now Democrat Township, Carroll County, Indiana in the fall of 1834 and visited the locality where he selected the land which he a few weeks later homesteaded from the Government; 160 acres of which he obtained on November 13, of the same year, in the North one-half of section 36. on November 7, 1835, he entered 480 acres in the south one-half of section 25.
After his visit in Indiana, Mr. Shanklin returned to his home in Monroe County, West Virginia, where he married and returned in October of the year 1836 to begin life in the woods.
At a distance of four miles form his land, the road terminated, and for the remainder of the way he had to push his way through the woods guided by a path cut in 1833 by Phillip Crites, an early settler. Mr. Crites had entered the land just beyond in 1834 and had came here to live in the spring of 1835. He and Mr. Shanklin's nearest neighbor and a prominent citizen in this locality.
The fall of 1835 was a very busy one for Mr. Shanklin who was among the earliest settlers in this township. On his arrival to Carroll County, he immediately set about clearing a place which would be suitable to build his log house upon. Logs had to be cut and notched for the house, food provided and protection from wild animals secured. The log house when it was finished, was built upon a small hill, at the foot of which was a very fine spring.
It was not uncommon for Mr. Franklin to go hunting and bring deer or some other wild animal. Sometimes he would go fishing in the Wildcat Creek to get meat for the table. They got their cornmeal and flour from the Adams Mill which was only a distance of about two miles away from Wildcat Creek.
Democrat Township had been organized in May of 1835, and the people were busy laying out and building roads. The population grew fast and soon school districts were laid out. Mr. Shanklin took an active part in the progress of his locality and cleared his own land upon which he made a good living.
After his death in 1888 his son, Andrew Y. Shanklin took over the homestead. He went further in improving it. A frame house had been built on the north side of the road in section 25. To this he added four rooms and a nice porch. A large barn was on the south side of the road in section 26. Good fences were built on the whole farm. From time to time land was added to or subtracted from the original, until at his death in 1919 there were just 300 acres which are now held by the heirs, his children. ~by Fay Humes, March 3, 1936

Cutler High School Senior Class of 1936, Local History of Cutler, Democrat Township, Lexington, Prince William. Vol. 1. Delphi: Q Graphics by Bret Hanaway, 2016 (Reprint from 1936). Print.
Page 50.


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