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The Old National Road And Quaker Settlements

© Annie Johnson

The Indian wars in Indiana were over, leading to Indiana becoming a state in 1816. This opened up more territory for settlers to come to Indiana. Before statehood the only well traveled trail into Indian Territory was first an Indian trail, and then becoming the main wagon trail by which most settlers traveled to come to or go through Indiana to points West.

The people from whom we derive most of our heritage and customs were the Quakers. They came following the "Old National Road"; a road across America started by an idea of George Washington's, our first President. The idea was brought to fruition by Thomas Jefferson, who funded the building of The National Road.

The first leg of this road started in Maryland and ended in St. Louis, Missouri, which is called "The Gateway to the West". The road when finished many years later, spanned the continental United States; starting in Baltimore, Maryland and ending in San Francisco, California. Today it goes from the East coast to end at Silver Creek Junction, Utah, where the Interstate Highway System takes over.

The Old National Road was the direct path of the Quaker influx into Indiana and I will take you through the towns and cities the Quakers established on their hunt for farmland and religious freedom in this state.

The Quakers or Society of Friends, founded by George Fox, called themselves "Plain". There were no ostentatious displays of wealth. Homes were functional, they did not use crosses in their homes, in their churches, or on their persons. They didn't have pianos or organs or sing in their meeting houses. The women wore no jewelry except for their gold wedding band. Their furniture was mostly handmade by their own furniture makers and was in plain patterns. They did use braid rugs and sometimes lace curtains.

They made their own clothing, quilts, brooms, baskets, wooden buckets, wooden bowls, and harness. They had barn raisings, where all the neighbors came to build a barn in a day. They used hand cut lumber and support beams. Some of the barns were round.

The Quakers used a certain way of speaking to each other in their immediate family and to other Quakers. My father was a Quaker, and called me these endearments many times. "Is thee ready to go?" "Art thou sure that is the answer?" These words were not used to outsiders.

In the Quaker churches, called Meeting Houses, they had a center isle, hand hewn benches lined up in rows on either side of it and the men and boys sat on one side and the women, girls and babies sat on the other side. They did not preach sermons; the women were the ministers and would read from the Bible to start people testifying to the goodness of God, where they stood up to speak when the Lord moved them to do so. The older men were the deacons of the church and often called out a person's name who had been shirking their duty to God, in the eyes of said deacons.