Editing Starke County, Indiana (section)

==History==
The Indiana State Legislature passed an omnibus county bill<ref>[https://archive.org/details/standardhistoryo01tynd/page/286/mode/2up John W Tyndall & OE Lesh, ''Standard history of Adams and Wells Counties, Indiana''. pp. 284-6 (accessed 9 August 2020)]</ref> on February 7, 1835, that authorized the creation of 13 counties in northeast Indiana, including Starke.<ref>The counties are Dekalb, Fulton, Jasper, Jay, Kosciusko, Marshall, Newton, Porter, Pulaski, Stark, Steuben, Wells, and Whitley. Newton County was merged with Jasper County in 1839, and was reauthorized as a separate county in 1859.</ref> The county government organization commenced in 1850.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.starkehistory.com/index_files/Page832.htm|title=Starke County Historical Society. Retrieved 1 January 2010.|access-date=January 1, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716131523/http://www.starkehistory.com/index_files/Page832.htm|archive-date=July 16, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was named for Gen. [[John Stark]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Ronald L.|last=Baker|author2=Marvin Carmony |title=Indiana Place Names|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|year=1995|isbn=0-253-28340-X|page=158}}</ref> who commanded [[New Hampshire]] troops at the [[Battle of Bunker Hill]] in 1775 in the [[American Revolutionary War]], and who defeated the British at the [[Battle of Bennington]] in 1777.<ref>{{cite book|author=De Witt Clinton Goodrich & Charles Richard Tuttle|publisher=R. S. Peale & Co.|year=1875|location=Indiana|title=An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana|url=https://archive.org/details/anillustratedhi02tuttgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/anillustratedhi02tuttgoog/page/n589 577]}}</ref>

Before white settlement, all of the land that forms modern-day Starke County and adjacent [[LaPorte County]] to the north was inhabited by the [[Potawatami]] Indian nation. These groups were forcibly removed to Kansas by the United States government in 1838, and many died on what has been called the [[Potawatomi Trail of Death]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/timeline/timeline.pdf|title=Starke County Public Library factsheet|work=scpl.lib.in.us|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624190211/http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/timeline/timeline.pdf|archive-date=June 24, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.potawatomi-tda.org/ptodhist.htm|title=History of 1838 Trail of Death|work=potawatomi-tda.org}}</ref>

When Starke County was created, it included the present LaPorte County townships of [[Cass Township, LaPorte County, Indiana|Cass]], [[Dewey Township, LaPorte County, Indiana|Dewey]], [[Hanna Township, LaPorte County, Indiana|Hanna]], and [[Prairie Township, LaPorte County, Indiana|Prairie]]. Residents in this area had to travel some distance east to Lemon's Bridge to cross the [[Kankakee River]] to travel south to the center of the county, the future site of the county seat at Knox. Therefore, because they were effectively isolated from the rest of Starke County, residents north of the river petitioned to be annexed to LaPorte county and this was done on January 28, 1842.<ref>[http://www.laportecountyhistory.org/history.htm Brief history of LaPorte county] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517164346/http://laportecountyhistory.org/history.htm|date=20080517|accessdate=May 17, 2008}}</ref>