Was Greens Fork named for a notorious killer?

Greens Fork, the sixth-oldest Wayne County town still in existence, celebrates its 197th birthday on Sept. 28.

Some interesting people originated in Greens Fork. The man who submitted the most patents in one day in the 19th century, Stephen C. Mendenhall, was born there when it was called Washington. And it was the birthplace of one of the most notorious killers in the old west, Johnny Ringo.

The folklore of the town is amazing. It went from being named after the first American president to, allegedly, a notoriously ruthless Native American who bragged about killing.

As tantalizing as this might be, some myths are not true.

On Sept. 28, 1818, the son of a Kentucky senator platted the site that became Greens Fork, which was acknowledged for record on Nov. 19, 1818.

Thomas Hatfield certified himself as proprietor, and Abraham Elliot was surveyor.

The mud slog was first called Westfield, but upon being legally recorded, it was dubbed Washington, a revered name in the Indiana territory because of the nation’s first president. When there were postal mixups with another town of the same name in southern Indiana, a name change again occurred in Clay Township in the fall of 1889 and Washington became Greens Fork.

The name Greens Fork is very challenging to spell, not because the letters are tricky but because people spell it with an apostrophe or run the two words together.

The reason for dubbing the town Greens Fork is speculative and the foundation for a myth.

A principle creek there reportedly was named for a ferocious Delaware Indian who had a reputation as a killer. He allegedly lived in a cave a half-mile north of town and had taken the English moniker of John Green, a name that was cause for alarm not just in Wayne County but in Randolph County as well.

The ill-tempered Delaware, while intoxicated, boasted of murdering several settlers in Kentucky.

Green eventually brought his violence to east-central Indiana.

Early in 1813, a scouting party saw him in the Indian town of Blue River (near Liberty). He asked permission to accompany the men to one of their settlements.

During the trip, some of the men got the upper hand and tied up the dangerous Delaware. They discussed executing him but instead transported him to the home of Col. George Hunt, south of Centerville, who was in command of the local militia.

Opinion was sharply divided as to what to do. The Delawares at the time were on friendly terms with the American government, but a majority of the settlers favored executing Green.

Thomas McCoy, one of the first settlers in the Elkhorn area, and others opposed it. McCoy cut the ropes binding Green and mounted him on his horse and, despite protest, carried him to safety.

One of the men most avidly in favor of killing Green was Charles Morgan, an avowed Indian hater.

Shortly after McCoy released Green, Morgan and his two half-brothers, the Beasleys, were murdered while boiling sugar water in a camp near Martindale’s station (just outside of Greens Fork). The three men were scalped, and one of the Beasleys was thrown in the fire to roast.

“The Memoir of David Hoover” states Green might also have killed a man named Shortridge “near where stands the present town of Milton.”

John Shortridge Jr. unfortunately had wandered from a blockhouse wearing the coat of George Ish, another Indian hater. Mistaken as Ish, Shortidge was brutally killed, possibly by Green.

Hoover said Green was like many Indians who “only warred against those who hated them” and “yet otherwise shed no peaceful blood.”

Green fled after the murder of Shortridge, his ultimate fate unknown.

It’s possible the Clay Township creek and its main town, Greens Fork, were named for Green, but it’s extremely doubtful since reasonable people would probably not name their hometown after a killer.

Jayne Beers is president of the Clay Township Historical Society and knowledgeable on the subject. Hers is the voice of reason. She states, “I do not believe that Greens Fork was named after John Green. I am more inclined to believe that it is named after Greens Fork, Gates County, North Carolina, where many of the settlers to this area had migrated (in addition to Guilford County). It was not unusual for people to name the places that they moved to after the place that they had previously lived.”