Ragsdales & Horralls of Daviess County, Indiana

When these settlers arrived from South Carolina the Northwest Territory was sparsely settled. In 1810 there were no more than 300 persons in all of what is now Daviess County (per Goodspeed's page 620). Five forts were built in 1812. Comer's Fort was built on Daniel Comer's farm not far from the cabin occupied by Hezekiah and Nancy Ragsdale, in the forks of White River in Hawkins Twp., Knox County, Indiana.

Goodspeed's History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana, 1886 

Occupants of the Forts:
Comer's Fort - Friend Spears, James and Thomas Aikman, Ebenezer Jones, Alexander Stevens, Chris. Gregory, John Stringer, William White, John Wallace, the widow Wallace and two sons, the widow Ellis, Vance Jones, Ephraim Thompson, E. RAGSDALE, Thrice Stafford, and Alexander Stephenson. There were a large number of young men in this fort, among them Wiley R. Jones, Jesse Hallem, William Phillips, John and James Stafford, Samuel Aikman, John and Josiah Wallace; John, David, and William Ellis; Colman Morgan and Wesley Wallace; John RAGSDALE and John Thompson.

Ballow's Fort - John, Thomas and William Horrall, Jeremiah Lucas, Charles Sinks, Richard Steen, Thomas Scales and Nathan Davis. Young men and boys: George Mason and Fleming Ballow; John, James and Samuel Steen, and Salem Sinks. These names comprise a list of nearly, if not quite all the male inhabitants of Daviess County, at the breaking out of troubles with the Indians.

Land records prior to 1814:
William HORRALL, October 10, 1808, southwest quarter of Section 9, Township 2, Range 7
Thomas HORRALL, October 13, 1808, southeast quarter of Section 9, Township 2, Range 7
Daniel COMER, May 16, 1808, southeast quater of Section 4, Township 2, Range 7
Hezekiah RAGSDALE, April 29, 1808, northwest quarter of Section 4, Township 2, Range 7

These tracts of land were all located in what later became Washington Township.

Indiana Territorial Pioneer Records 1801-1820 volume II

Compiled by Charles M. Franklin page 46: Knox County Polls of an election held at the court house in Vincennes for the purpose of electing one Major General and one Brigadier General to Command the Sixth Division of Indiana Militia 4 March 1820

William Harrell and others.

Daviess Co., Indiana census 1830:

William Herrell pg. 375

James Horrell pg. 376

Jason Horrell pg. 376

John Horrell pg. 374

John Horrell pg. 376

William Horrell pg. 376

Thomas Hrrell (sic) pg. 375

William Horrels pg. 376

Ann Ragsdale pg. 376

Hesekiah Ragsdale pg. 374

John Ragsdale pg. 376

Thomas Ragsdale pg. 376

Daviess Co., Indiana 1840 census

Cleaver Horrall pg. 42

James Horrall pg. 26

Jason Horrall pg. 26

John W. Horrall pg. 19

Thomas Horrall pg. 14

W. I. Horrall pg. 35

William Horrall pg. 6

William Horrall pg. 14

John Horrell pg. 35

John Ragsdale pg. 12

Hezekiah Ragsdale pg. 11

James Ragsdale pg. 11

John Ragsdale pg. 11

Larkin Ragsdale pg. 13

Goodspeed's History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana, 1886 

Dr. Mark H. Ragsdale was born in Harrison Twp., Daviess Co., Indiana, August 26, 1836, son of John and Elizabeth (Palmer) Ragsdale and is the fourth of their eight children. His parents were born in South Carolina in 1802, the former in November and the latter in August. The family located in what was then the Northwest Territory, but what is now Daviess County, Indiana in 1811.

The doctor's father died in 1848 and his mother in 1874.