Deming, Indiana

Deming is an unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Hamilton County, Indiana.

Deming, Indiana
Unincorporated community
Deming Deming
Coordinates: 40°06′55″N 86°05′55″W
Country	United States
State	Indiana
County	Hamilton
Township	Jackson
Elevation <refname=gnis/>	892 ft (272 m)
ZIP code	46034
FIPS code	18-17650
GNIS feature ID	433464<refname=gnis>U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Deming, Indiana</ref>

History

By 1833, the area that is now present-day Deming, Indiana had been settled by American pioneers. The community was laid out on August 10, 1837, by Elihu Pickett (1806-1866), Solomon Pheanis (1786-1853), and Lewis Jessup (1812-1893). It was originally called Farmington. The name was changed in 1854 when a post office was established there because Indiana already had a Farmington post office. When the town was first laid out, a settler by the name of Levi Cook (1816-1899) constructed a "corn cracker" mill known as Cook's mill. For a time, the people of Deming had their corn grounded at this mill. This mill only lasted a few years, and S. & G. mill was later constructed in 1865 near or on the remains of Cook's mill. The mills were located a half mile to the east of the community on Hinkle Creek near where Hinkle Road meets 225th Street.

Many inhabitants in and around present-day Deming were actively involved in assisting runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. Known participants include the aforementioned Elihu Picket, as well as Jesse Baker (1805-1891), Joseph (1811-1873) and Anna Baker (1817-1891), Martin Anthony, Owen Williams, John White, Daniel Hasket (1815-1901), Uriah "Uri" Hodson (1811-1888), and Joseph Hadley (1798-1873). In 1837, runaway slaves John and Louann Rhodes, along with their daughter Lydia Rhodes, arrived in present-day Deming via the Underground Railroad. The family recuperated in preparation for continuing their journey to Canada at the home of Joseph Baker (1809-1841), which was located to the west of Deming. Finding the area to their liking, the Rhodes family settled in nearby Bakers Corner. In 1844, they were involved in the Rhodes family incident. After the incident was resolved, the family continued living as before on their homestead. Part of the Great Dismal Swamp stretched diagonally from Deming to Hortonville, which is a distance of about 3 miles. The swamp helped a number of runaway slaves to escape slave hunters. In the 1880's, the swamp was drained and converted to farmland.

The first post office in the community was established in 1846 as Penfield. It was renamed to Deming in 1854, and it was discontinued in 1902. The story of why the inhabitants of Penfield changed the name of their community to Deming has unfortunately been lost to history.

Hinkle Lodge No. 310, A.F. & A.M., is a Masonic lodge in the community that was founded on May 26, 1864. It is part of the Grand Lodge of Indiana. By 1869, the lodge had 47 members. Five years later, they were down to 27 members. Their numbers steadily increased, and by 1936 the lodge had close to 125 members. The Hinkle Creek Friends Church, located near where Hinkle Road and 215th Street intersect, was organized in 1836 by settlers in the Deming and Bakers Corner area who moved here from North Carolina and Virginia because of their opposition to slavery. The church is active to this day. In 1853, Quakers had a Mr. Porch from nearby Westfield, Indiana construct West Grove Friends Church. A local by the name of Jesse Beals donated the land and part of the timber for the church's construction. A tanning yard that was located in present-day Deming provided the oak bark strips that were used to insulate the walls and ceiling of the building. The structure had a partition through the center to separate the men and women during their business meetings, as well as raised galleries or platforms to hold the heads of the meetings. Two churches and two schools were constructed at West Grove over the years. The church also laid out West Grove Friends Cemetery, which is still in use. An incident occurred at the church on June 26, 1918, during the United States involvement in World War I, when it refused to fly an American flag for an event. Four automobiles loaded with men pulled up to the church and subsequently hoisted three American flags over it. The men warned the church not to remove the flags, and as no further incident was noted in The Noblesville Ledger, it can be assumed that the flags were left untouched. The church, school, and cemetery were located a little over half a mile outside of Deming. By 1874, the church had a membership of 130. In November of 1946, it was noted that there were 33 attendees at the church's Sunday school class. The congregation continued meeting at West Grove Friends Church until 1963, and the building was razed in 1964. Where the church and schoolhouse once stood is now a private residence to the southwest of where Anthony Road and 226th Street intersect. The community had schools in two locations during the time that the Quaker church existed: the West Grove school and the Deming school. Both were originally built before 1867, with the fate of the West Grove schoolhouse being lost to history. In 1871, an article in The Noblesville Ledger described how the schoolhouse in Deming filled the place of "seminary, church, town hall, and club room." The last recorded activities at Deming school took place in the spring of 1930. In September of 1931, the all-brick schoolhouse, which had eight rooms and a basement, was sold to a nearby property owner by the name of Mrs. Griffin. Mrs. Griffin planned to "convert the building into a stable and use the basement for hogs and cattle." The schoolhouse was located to the northeast of where Elm Street meets 225th Street. From 1941 to 1958, the former students and teachers of the school held annual meetings in Deming so that they could reminisce together about their days at the Deming school. For several years in the mid-1800's, a congregation of Wesleyan's gathered in the Deming schoolhouse. In 1865, they built a two-story tall Wesleyan church next to the Masonic Lodge. The church was called the Deming Wesleyan Church. The last record of the church is from 1976.

In 1873, a woman named Lucetta Foulke (~ 1847-1873) was mortally wounded while asleep in her home a few miles north of Deming. Her husband, Amasa Foulke (1849-1934), was also wounded by the unknown assailants. Amasa rushed to the home of Dr. Amos Pettyjohn (1815-1886), which was located on a hill above Hinkle Creek half a mile outside Deming, to seek medical care and alert the authorities. According to Amasa, he had been asleep in a lounger near the bed that his wife and two children were asleep in when he was awoken by the gunshot that took Lucetta's life. Seeing two men in his bedroom, he lunged at them in order to protect his family. After a brief struggle, one of the men shot Amasa in the arm. With Amasa wounded, the assailants were able to escape. The public did not believe Amasa's story, and he was quickly sentenced to life imprisonment by a jury. However, a year later, a second jury acquitted Amasa of all charges. He left Indiana soon after his second trial, and he passed away in Los Angeles, California in 1934. It is worth noting that in 1876, a known criminal named Tom Baker confessed on his deathbed that he was the one who murdered Lucetta. However, there is not enough evidence to prove whether Amasa Foulke or Tom Baker was the one who committed the murder.

Lick Creek, which was an offshoot of Hinkle Creek, once ran along the northwestern and western side of Deming. Sometime between the years 1909 and 1919, the creek was rerouted and renamed to Isaac Jones ditch. The ditch was likely named for a local named Isaac Jones Jr. (1843-1915). In 1936, the community was put on the electrical grid. Less than a mile upstream from where Issac Jones Ditch and Hinkle Creek split, the Revis-Carson ditch was dug into Hinkle Creek. Based on satellite imagery, it is believed to have been constructed sometime between the years 1956 and 1962.