INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST #564 "The Farmer's Institute" Traditional Cache

"INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST"

The Indiana Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries built by Hoosier Pioneers. In just two years, the quest has grown to over four hundred fifty caches hidden in Indiana, as well as Ohio and Michigan, and the hiders have grown to over twenty-five cacher teams, most of which of which are comprised of Dogs and their Humans. Over 1,000 cacher teams have logged over 12,000 finds. One of many cache machines found 102 ISQ caches in a single day (daylight hours only).

(Photos by Donsdi)
INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST #564
"The Farmer's Institute"
This is Farmer's Institute Cemetery in Union Township in Tippecanoe County. The first church erected in Union Township was in 1827 by the Society of Friends (Quakers). They are the group that settled most of the southern part of Union Township. In 1827-1828 the families of Joseph, James and Levi Hawkins along with their sister Hannah Hawkins Hollingsworth and William Hollingsworth along with his brother Joseph and their families moved to the area around the Farmer's Institute Church. (The Hollingsworth are descendants of Valentine Hollingsworth who was active in the church in Pennsylvania with Wm Penn and held several high offices. It is claimed that all Hollingsworth who have been in this country from it beginnings are descended from him.) Most of the early settlers in southern Union Township were related to one another in some manner and they formed a close supportive Society.



Surprisingly, Wm Hollingsworth is listed on the rolls of Captain Andrew Wilken's Company of Infantry, of the Indiana Militia Sept 18th -Nov 18th, 1811. He was at the Battle of Tippecanoe under General Wm H. Harrison. In October of 1811 William married Mary Cook, daughter of John and Olive Cook. They lived in Union County near Liberty until hostile Indians drove them out of the area. They stayed in Butler Co. OH until 1927/1928 when they moved their 8 children to Tippecanoe County. William owned some 600 acres here and additional land in Tipton County and out in Iowa. He was considered a substantial and representative pioneer farmer of the county. On Sept. 24th, 1855 he passed away on the Homestead he built and which remains in the family even now. The farm is listed in the Tippecanoe County State Historic Buildings and Sites.



The first adult to be buried in this cemetery was one of its original founders, Levi Hawkins, who passed away six years after he arrived here from Ohio. Buddell Sleeper and his wife Elizabeth Welch Hendricks Sleeper are buried in this cemetery. Buddell Sleeper was the leader of the Underground Railroad in Tippecanoe County. Their home was in Wayne Township just to the west of Union Township and was about 1100 acres along with some substantial acreage in Iowa. Fleeing slaves were hidden at their home and moved on at night often by Isaiah Sleeper who made his home with them. They were both strong in their faith and believed in education as being highly important for getting on in life. They actively helped establish subscription schools and promoted higher education. Buddell died Feb 1888 and Elizabeth died a year later in Feb 1889.

This cemetery was cleaned and given some basic restoration about five years ago. You will see large areas that are empty but please be respectful as many souls are buried in these areas. Their headstones can be seen propped up along the fence. If you look along the lines of stones that are there toward the fence you can easily tell where they should be sitting. It is sad to see the stones displaced but nice to know that people care enough to be sure that they don't stray from the cemetery. An article that I read said that fundamental strict Friends simply had a large round unmarked stone to mark their graves and that people who knew no better have moved them. We didn't know at the time to have a little look around to see if any of them remain.




FIND LOGS ON THIS CACHE THAT INDICATE NIGHT CACHING WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE!

The cache container is Micro. BYOP. .The cache is not located near a grave... If you find a fallen Us Flag, please stick it back in the ground. You must sign the cache log to claim a find. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out. Say a prayer for our brave troops, fighting overseas. God Bless America!

"Indiana Spirit Quest" is brought to you by the following fellows of GEOISQ*: SixDogTeam (Earthdog Patrick, Lead Dog, Wheel Dog) , Kodiak Kid, *The Shadow*, Team Shydog, Rupert2, Torry, ~Mystery Dog~, Team Tigger International, bbsurveyors, DoverDuo, -{LoS}-Xile, Prairiepartners, WilliamsFamGC, Team Itchy Scratchy, Bean Blossom Gang, Wishbone86, krisNjoe , bikinibottomfeeders, 501 Gang , Awsome Ev , Lord Elwood and Donsdi. If you are interested in spreading the Quest to your neck of the woods AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, email SixDogTeam.

*Grand Exalted Order of the Indiana Spirit Quest

** THIS IS A GENUINE INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST CACHE**