Pre-County Settlement

Pre-County Settlement. . While it seems almost unfathomable today, 8,000 to 12,000 years ago the Randolph County of today was home to mastodons, woolly mammoths giant beavers, giant ground sloths, giant short-faced bears, and saber-toothed tigers. Fossil remains of these animals found in Randolph County are now, exhibited by local and state museums. Millions of years before even this time during the Paleozoic era (542 to 251 million years ago), small, sea dwelling invertebrates populated east central Indiana. The Ice Age of 18,000 to 20,000 years ago resulted in glaciers moving slowly over what is now Randolph County terrain, leaving "kettle holes" formed when chunks of glacial ice dug into the ground. When the chunks of ice melted over hundreds of years, silt and vegetation filled up the small lakes leaving them to become marsh and prairie land. Indigenous people occupied the area that is now Randolph County thousands of years before the first European explorers arrived in the 1700s and settlers arrived in the early 1800s. For example, the "mound" (also known as "Adena") Indians occupied what is now Randolph County as early as 1,700 BC, during what is known as the "early woodland era". They were notable for their agricultural practices, pottery, artistic works, and extensive trading networks. one of the most significant mound communities in the Midwest (known as "Fudge Mound") was located slightly north and west of Winchester and two others mound communities are found approximately one and one-half mile northwest of Lynn. From around 200 BC to 500 AD, during the "middle woodland era", an indigenous population associated with the Hopewell Indians occupied the Ohio Valley Region, including east central Indiana. Later Indian tribes that occupied and inhabited what would become Randolph County included the Lenape (Delaware) Indians, who resided here from the 1790s to 1820s when they were removed to Kansas and ultimately Oklahoma under various federal treaties. Noteworthy Indian leaders who once camped or conducted business in Randolph County, particularly along the White and Mississinewa Rivers, include the great Shawnie tribal warrior and Chieftain Tecumseh and his brother "The Prophet".