Prospecting for Gems of Bloomington's Past #10
Former slave, Aaron Wallace, one of the earliest residents of first, Bloomington and then, Indianapolis; and his relationship with the Maxwell family
Last time we went deeper into the life of former slave, Notley Baker, the “only respectable ‘nigger’ in town”.
Aaron moves to Indiana with the Maxwells
This week, we are exploring Aaron Wallace, a former slave of David Maxwell’s family, who chose to stay with the Maxwells after he was freed before they moved to Indiana. Settling near Hanover, Indiana in 1809, David’s father, Bezaleel Maxwell, had always hated slavery but justified keeping slaves when he needed their work for his home and farm. A Revolutionary War veteran, Maxwell was born in the county of Albemarle, Virginia, not far from Jefferson’s Monticello. He moved west from the former British Colony to Garrard County, Kentucky after the Revolutionary War. Having given in to the plantation culture in the past until he saw a major conflict brewing over slavery,* he decided to move to Indiana, a slave-free state, and urged his sons to do the same. Below is a picture of the Maxwell home near Hanover, Indiana, constructed around 1817.
“In the rear (of the above home) extended a line of comfortable cabins that were the quarters of the colored families who, freed by their old master (Bezaleel Maxwell), voluntarily came to the new home.” 1
David Maxwell followed his father from Danville, Kentucky to Indiana after his marriage when his medical education was finished (around 1810), and started his medical practice near Hanover and Madison, Indiana. According to his granddaughter, Louise A. Maxwell, “from the time that President Madison designated a township in Monroe for the use of a seminary of learning, Dr. Maxwell’s attention was turned toward this place (Bloomington).”2
Aaron Wallace and David Maxwell: early residents of Bloomington
In November of 1818, David sent his trusted former slave, Aaron Wallace, to bid for him in a real estate auction, buying Lot #266 in Bloomington Township for $175. The difficult-to-find record appears below with the name, “Aron Wallis” (of colour) appearing as the last entry on the page of the Transcriptions of the Monroe County Commissioner’s Records. 3 Because of the variant spelling of his name, I did not find it at first , but later on, found it in the index under “Negroes”.
Nowhere in the historical records can be found a statement that Wallace bought the lot for Maxwell, but two sources said that David Maxwell had bought land in Bloomington in 1818.4 I just couldn’t find an entry in the Deeds. David H Maxwell’s legal deed for Lot 266 did not appear until August 6, 1820 in Book “A” of Monroe County Deeds—and guess what? That was the same property bought for the same amount of money ($175) by his servant, Aaron Wallace in 1818. So I made the connection. Of course, I was expecting that Wallace had bought the land for himself, but, obviously, it was not the case, and he did not stay in Bloomington very long after the sale.
What I learned from this experience was that the very earliest real estate records are in the Commissioner’s Books, not in the Deeds.
As mentioned above, the Blanchard history book lists Aaron Wallace among the early buyers of Bloomington property in 1818 and as an early resident under the name, “Rev. Aaron Wallace”.5 We will explore Wallace’s relationship with the church in my next blog.
David Maxwell was later to buy lots 265, 267 and 268 adjacent to his original lot, 266, near the southwest corner of 7th and College.
Wallace was absent from town for the Federal Census of 1820 for Monroe County. It appears that he returned to the Maxwell family farm near Hanover after procuring the land David wanted in Bloomington.
Since David Maxwell’s home had not yet been built, the family had to find what accommodations they could when they arrived early in 1919. According to Louise Maxwell, the home that David built on Lot 266 was the first brick home built in Bloomington.6 A log cabin was rented in the mean time from Aquilla Rogers. The log cabin may have been the one David Rogers built after he bought the southeast quarter of Section 33 of Monroe County in 1816.
David H and John W Maxwell as Rangers
Years before this time, John Maxwell (David’s older brother), David H and two other Maxwell brothers had all been hired by Governor William Henry Harrison as Mounted Rangers after the War of 1812, patrolling “traces” and the Wabash Valley for hostile Indians between 1813 and 1814.7 After these experiences, David H Maxwell had decided to move to Bloomington, and John W, to the area near Fall Creek that, later became Indianapolis. Having travelled as far north as the Delaware Indian towns near Noblesville as a Ranger, John Maxwell was already well-acquainted with some of the Indian Territory, and was eager to settle in these lands. Of course, David H had already set his sights on the university town of Bloomington.
Aaron Wallace and John Maxwell, early residents of Indianapolis
In 1820, Aaron Wallace and another black man (Richard Morland) accompanied John Maxwell on a trip to a frontier area now known as Indianapolis. Wallace has already been identified as one of the earliest residents of Bloomington, and he became, likewise, one of the earliest residents of Indianapolis along with John Maxwell. John Maxwell travelled in late February, 1820, with his two sons, two former slaves, and a friend, John Cowan with his two sons. The party arrived in what, later, became Indianapolis before the area had been selected as capital of the state. They “camped out”, clearing seven acres of land each, and sowing a crop of corn near Fall Creek. Leaving his son, Samuel, and a Cowan boy to oversee the crop, John Maxwell returned with the rest of the party to Hanover in May of 1820. As they prepared to go home, the party met the Commissioners who were appointed to select the site of the capital. They recommended the selection of the Fall Creek area near ”Bluffs” as opposed to Hamilton County, which was being considered as a possible capital at that time. In August, John Maxwell returned to his corn crop with his boys (and, probably, his black servants) driving a wagon on the Delaware Trace. They harvested the crop and built a cabin on the west side of Fall Creek near the crossing of the Crawfordsville Road. By 1821, many more settlers arrived in Indianapolis because lots had been laid out for sale, and Indianapolis was going to become the capital of Indiana. Aaron Wallace was living in the area of Bluff Road in Indianapoli around 1873s but he helped the Maxwell family for many years.8
Next time we will learn about Camp Meetings.
Houston, Florence Amelia Wilson, et al. Maxwell History and Genealogy: Including the Allied Families of Alexander, Allen, Bachiler, Batterton, Beveridge, Blaine, Brewster, Brown, Callender, Campbell, Carey, Clark, Cowan, Fox, Dinwiddie, Dunn, Eylar, Garretson, Gentry, Guthrie, Houston, Howard, Howe, Hughes, Hussey, Irvine, Johnson, Kimes, McCullough, Moore, Pemberton, Rosenmüller, Smith, Stapp, Teter, Tilford, Uzzell, Vawter, Ver Planck, Walker, Wiley, Wilson. United States, Press of C.E. Pauley, Indianapolis Engraving Company, 1916. pp 44-45.
Maxwell, Louise, A Sketch of David H Maxwell, Indiana Magazine of History, Vol Vii, September, 1912, p 104-105.
Transcribed Monroe County Commissioner’s Records, Book A, p 62.
Blanchard, C. (1884). Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana: Historical and biographical. Chicago: F. A. Battey & co.. and
Maxwell, Louise, A Sketch of David H Maxwell, Indiana Magazine of History, Vol Vii, September, 1912, p 104.
Blanchard, C. (1884). Counties of Morgan, Monroe, and Brown, Indiana: Historical and biographical. Chicago: F. A. Battey & co. pp 454-455.
Maxwell, Louise, A Sketch of David H Maxwell, Indiana Magazine of History, Vol Vii, September, 1912, p 104.
Indianapolis-News-Jul-05-1873-p-2 . (Obituary for Samuel C Maxwell, son of John Maxwell)
Indianapolis-News-Jul-05-1873-p-2 . (Obituary for Samuel C Maxwell)