County of site: Posey County
Location of marker: Courthouse lawn
Location of this waymark: 300 Main St., courthouse lawn, Mt. Vernon
Marker erected by: Mt. Vernon Civitan Club
Date marker erected: September 1, 1979
The Person:
POSEY, Thomas, (1750 - 1818)
Senate Years of Service: 1812-1813
Party: Democratic Republican
"POSEY, Thomas, a Senator from Louisiana; born in Fairfax County, Va., July 9, 1750; received a limited schooling; moved to the western frontier of Virginia in 1769; served in the Virginia militia in the French and Indian wars; member of the Virginia committee of correspondence; at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War was appointed captain in a Virginia regiment; promoted to the rank of major in 1778 and the following year was made colonel; was at the surrender of Yorktown in 1781; held various county and militia offices; appointed brigadier general in 1793 and participated in campaigns against the Indians; moved to Kentucky in 1794; served in the State senate and was its presiding officer in 1805 and 1806; lieutenant governor of Kentucky for four years; major general of Kentucky levies after 1809; moved to the Attakapas region of Louisiana; appointed to the United States Senate from Louisiana to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John N. Destrehan and served from October 8, 1812, to February 4, 1813; unsuccessful candidate for election to fill the vacancy; Governor of Indiana Territory 1813-1816; unsuccessful candidate for governor of Indiana; appointed Indian agent in 1816 and held the position until his death in Shawneetown, Ill., on March 19, 1818; interment in Westwood Cemetery." ~ Library of Congress
Since the last ended with his burial, then his listing on Find-A-Grave would be appropriate here
"THOMAS POSEY was born in Virginia and educated in the country schools. An adventurer and a soldier, he began his military career at age nineteen fighting with a Virginia company against the Indians. He served with distinction during the American Revolution and settled down in Spotsylvania County for a few years afterward to serve as county lieutenant and magistrate.
"He joined Anthony Wayne in fighting the Indian wars in the Northwest for a year, and then he moved to Kentucky, where he served in the state senate and as lieutenant governor. Moving with the frontier, General Posey turned up in Louisiana by 1812 and briefly served as United States senator from that state. He was appointed governor of the Indiana Territory in 1813 following Harrison's resignation and served in that capacity until statehood in 1816.
"He ran unsuccessfully for governor against Jonathan Jennings in 1816 and was appointed Indian agent for Illinois Territory. He died in Shawneetown while serving in the office.
"Handsome and graceful, distinguished by a military bearing, Posey was believed by some to have been George Washington's natural son."
~ Biographies of the governors by Lana Ruegamer
The County:
"The first recorded white man to come to Posey County was Tom Jones in 1794. Posey County was named in honor of Thomas Posey Governor of the Indiana Territory at the time it was created on Sept. 7,1814. After several changes the present boundary lines were fixed in 1823.
The first horse-powered mill was built in 1810 by James Black. The first county seat was Blackford in Jan. 1815, and the first court was held in Blackford in Oct. 1816. The County seat was moved to Mt. Vernon in 1825. The seal of Posey County, adopted in 1835, was in honor of William Henry Harrison.
The Plank Road with toll gates was built between New Harmony and Mt. Vernon in 1851. The first woman's club in the United States was the Minerva Society, organized in New Harmony in 1859. The first railroad line through Posey County was the St. Louis and Southern in 1869.
The present court house was built in 1867 at a cost of $95,000. The first judge of Posey County Circuit Court was Isaac Blackford, The County Clerk and Recorder was William E. Stewart, the Treasurer was Samuel Jones, the Auditor was Thomas F. Prosser, and the Sheriff was John Carson.
Posey County's most famous town, New harmony, was the site of two experiments in communal living; first under Father Rapp, The Harmony Society from 1814 to 1824, and then under Robert Owen from 1825 to 1860." ~ Mt. Vernon Civitan Club
"EARLY MT. VERNON HISTORY: A Scotchman, Andrew (Tweedle-Dee-Dum) McFadin, a friend of Daniel Boone, crossed the Ohio and discovered the location of our present city in 1798. He was determined to make it his home because of its elevation. In 1806 he built a log cabin at the foot of what is now College Avenue. He was joined by two cousins, William and "Slim Andy" Andrew McFadin. At the suggestion of Wm. McFadin they called the site McFadin's Bluff. The McFadin's were joined by William Weir, Thomas Givens, Aaron Williams, Aaron Burlison, Absolum Duckworth, Paul and Thomas Casselberry, Thomas Duckworth, William and Hugh Todd, John Black, and the Rev. Samuel Jones a Baptist minister
General William Henry Harrison purchased all of the section's 371.82 acres on May 25, 1807.
The first white child born in the vicinity was Malinda Weir in 1807. In 1811 the first steamboat passed the Village. The first school was built in 1814. On "Muster Day" in 1816 Sam Rowe proposed honoring George Washington by changing the town's name to Mt. Vernon. In 1816 the first plat was laid out by John Wagoner, on the west side of Mill Creek and the present public square. Fifteen families were living in Mt. Vernon at the time . The county seat was moved to Mt. Vernon in 1825. The first incorporation was in 1832. The first lodge was instituted in 1848, the I.O.O.F. Mt. Vernon was incorporated the second time in 1849. At that time 350 people lived in the village." ~ Posey County Historical Society