Saint Thomas, Indiana
{{Short description|Former hamlet in Knox County, Indiana, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement|name=St Thomas|settlement_type=former hamlet|coordinates = {{coord|38|35|10|N|87|33|44|W|type:city_region:US-IN_source:GNIS-enwiki_scale:200000|display=inline,title}}|subdivision_type1=Country|subdivision_name1=United States|subdivision_type2=State|subdivision_name2=Indiana|subdivision_type3=County|subdivision_name3=Knox}}
Saint Thomas was a hamlet in Johnson Township, Knox County, Indiana, in the United States.{{sfn|Greene|1911a|p=380}}
It had an eponymous Catholic church, and a Benedictine convent which also provided a school.{{sfn|Greene|1911a|p=380}}
The Purcell family and melon farming
In farms surrounding the hamlet the major crop in the 19th century was melons, which were shipped out via the nearby Purcell's Station ({{coord|38|35|44|N|87|31|09|W|region:US-IN_type:landmark_scale:200000|display=inline|name=Purcell's Station}}), located {{convert|6|mile|km}} south of Vincennes on the Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad .{{sfn|Greene|1911a|pp=370,380}}{{sfn|Lippincott|1880|p=1816|loc=Purcell's}}
There were also once grain elevators at the station.{{sfn|Greene|1911a|p=380}}
Purcell's was also the post-office serving St Thomas and local merchant Lease Werker was its postmaster back at the turn of the 20th century.{{sfn|Greene|1911a|p=380}}
The Purcells were an early family of European farming settlers starting with Isaac Purcell who came to Knox county from Virginia somewhere around 1790, and Jonathan Purcell.{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=81}}
Jonathan was the father of John Purcell who was the father of Noah Purcell, whose farm was next to Isaac's farm.{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=81}}
Andrew Purcell's farm was the location of the Purcell's Station railroad stop and post-office and it is Andrew for whom the station was named.{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=81}}
Andrew had a water mill and a still house,{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=91}} as had Noah.{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=92}}
Dicksburg
Andrew Purcell originally owned the land that was sold to Thomas Dick on 1836-12-01, that would be the site of the failed town of Dicksburg to the south of St Thomas, in adjoining Decker Township in Donations 6 and 7 (roughly {{coord|38.508|-87.55|format=dms|display=inline|type:city_scale:200000_region:US-IN|name=approximate location of Dicksburg}}).{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=271}}
Thomas Dick was a relative of James A. Dick, after whom the Dick's Hills also in Decker Township ({{coord|38.506|-87.566|format=dms|display=inline|type:hill_scale:200000_region:US-IN|name=Dick's Hills}}) were named.{{sfn|Greene|1911a|p=377}}
The town was located downstream of Deckertown (nowadays Decker) on the north bank of West Fork White River, {{convert|14|mile|km}} south of Vincennes.{{sfn|Baldwin|Thomas|1854|p=324|loc=Dicksburg}}{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=271}}
Amongst the owners of lots there was Isaac Purcell.{{sfn|Baker|Emerson|Cauthorn|1886|p=271}}
But only half of the 93 lots of the planned town were ever sold, and the entire town was washed away when the White River flooded.{{sfn|Greene|1911a|p=377}}
By 1875 there was a graveyard at the site of the former town, which itself also ended up being washed away in another flood.{{sfn|Greene|1911a|p=377}}
References
{{reflist|20em}}
= Bibliography =
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book|title=History of Knox and Daviess County, Indiana|location=Chicago|publisher=Goodspeed Publishing|editor1-last=Goodspeed|editor1-first=Weston Arthur|year=1886|author1-last=Baker|author1-first=Orlan F.|author2-first=Z. T.|author2-last=Emerson|author3-first=Henry S.|author3-last=Cauthorn|chapter=History of Knox County|oclc=8449389}} ({{HathiTrust Catalog|id=008913613|title=History of Knox and Daviess County, Indiana}})
- {{cite book|title=History of old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana|author1-first=George E.|author1-last=Greene|publisher=S.J. Clarke Publishing. Company|location=Chicago|year=1911a|volume=1|oclc=3557995}} ({{Internet Archive|id=historyofoldvinc01gree|name=volume 1}} {{HathiTrust Catalog|id=006793331|title=History of old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana}})
- {{cite book|title=A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy|author1-first=Thomas|author1-last=Baldwin|author2-first=Joseph|author2-last=Thomas|publisher=Lippincott, Grambo & Company|year=1854|location=Philadelphia}}
- {{cite book|title=Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World|publisher=J.B. Lippincott & Company|year=1880|location=Philadelphia|ref={{harvid|Lippincott|1880}}}} ({{Internet Archive|id=lippincottsgazet00phil|name=Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World}})
{{refend}}
{{Knox County, Indiana}}
{{authority control}}
{{KnoxCountyIN-geo-stub}}
Category:Former populated places in Knox County, Indiana