Tassinong Cemetery, Morgan TownshipIndex of Tassinong Cemetery burials . . . .
The Tassinong Cemetery was located at Tassinong in Morgan Township (southeast
quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 31). Only one
burial is known to exist in the cemetery: Mrs. Hall, who was supposedly buried
at Tassinong after her death on December 28, 1881. The exact location of the
cemetery is unknown.
Death notice of Mrs. Hall as reported in the Porter County Vidette on
January 5, 1882 (Volume 26, Number 1, Page 5, Column 1):
Mrs. Hall, of Tassinong, died at her
home in that place on
the 28th ult. Her remains were
interred in the Tassinong
cemetery.
In the August 23, 1895, issue of The Chesterton Tribune (Volume 12,
Number 20, Page 8, Column 1), the following notice appears:
E. D. Hager, son-in-law of A. S.
Fairchild, Tassinong, brought
his infant child here from
Hagerstown, Ohio, for burial. A.
Lepell, undertaker, took remains to
Tassinong.
Tassinong was one of the first small villages in Porter County, which is
believed to have been the location of a French trading post and Indian village.
The village was located in the extreme southern portion of Morgan Township.
Ball writes of Tassinong that "At some time and by some one, when and by whom no
record has been found, some woodland in what became Morgan township was named
Tassinong Grove. The early settlers in 1834 seem to have found the name already
there, the Indians claiming that it was old then. It has been conjectured that
the French once had there a trading post, but no real evidence seems to have
been found. The name for us is prehistoric, as it was found there by the
pioneers. But old as is the name for the locality, the village that the white
settlers established was not among the earliest business centers. No record of a
store is found till about 1846. The earlier merchants were Harper, Stoddard,
their buildings made of logs, Unmgh [probably should be Unruh], Eaton, McCarthy,
and Rinker & Wright. In 1852 there were two stores, two blacksmith shops, a
carpenter's shop, a tavern, and some shoe-makers' shops. About 1855 a church
building was erected. The organization was Prebyterian. The postoffice dates
from 1840. After the railroad life commenced and Kouts as a station and town was
established, Tassinong as a village declined. It can scarcely be called a
village now, though its life has been quite different from its early sisters,
Waverly and City West."
Contrary to Ball's statement above, a post office began operation in Tassinong
on April 10, 1838, with John Jones appointed as postmaster. The post office's
name was officially changed to Tassinong Grove on December 29, 1845, and
remained operation under that name until June 29, 1869, when it reverted back to
simply Tassinong. The post office ceased operation in Tassinong on June 30,
1903, with service transferred to Valparaiso. Early postmasters of Tassinong
include Edwin C. Abbott (1845-1848), Alonzo Whitcomb (1848), Jesse Spencer
(1848-1854), Peter C. Bonham (1854), William C. Eaton (1854-1855), John W.
Wright (1855-1862), Franklin Atkins (1862-1863), William Stoddard (1863-1866),
John C. Earhart (1866-1869), Sylvester Pierce (1869-1875), and Calvin Bowman
beginning his service in 1885.
Sources:
Baker, J. David. 1976. The Postal History of Indiana, Volume 2.
Louisville,
Kentucky: Leonard H. Hartmann. 1,061 p. [see p. 1,035]
Ball, Timothy H. 1900. Northwestern Indiana From 1800 to 1900: A
View of Our
Region Through the Nineteenth Century. Chicago,
Illinois: Donohue & Henneberry.
570 p. [see p. 322-323]
Hardesty, A. G. 1876. Illustrated Historical Atlas of Porter County,
Indiana.
Valparaiso, Indiana: A. G. Hardesty. 90 p. [see pp. 39
and 65].
NOTE: If you have information that you
like to add to this database, including corrections, then please contribute it
to
Steve Shook.
HAGER, (infant)
Birth:
Death: 1895
HALL, (female)
Birth:
Death: December 28, 1881
Note: died at home
Tassinong Cemetery data prepared by Steven R. Shook