Mapping and Research for Fountain County, Indiana
Organized December 31, 1825, from parts of Montgomery and Wabash counties, Fountain County was named for Major Fountain of Kentucky, killed at the battle on the Maumee near Fort Wayne in 1790.
Covington is the County Seat. The commissioners who chose it made their report July 25, 1826, probably because of its location on the Wabash Erie Canal, a factor which also led to its quick growth. In the later part of the 1820s some residents wanted to move the County Seat because it lies on the Wabash River, which forms the boundary between Warren and Vermillion counties. There was agitation started to move the County Seat to a more central location, but Legislature appointed commissioners unanimously agreed that the town of Covington remain the seat of justice.
In 1851, there was an effort to move it to Chambersburg and again in 1870 and 1871 to move it to Veedersburg.
Famous abolitionist Levi Coffin was located at Newport. Despite being born and reared in the slave state of North Carolina, Coffin was an adamant opponent of slavery. In 1826 he and his wife welcomed to their home and aided their first fugitives. Word of his help spread, and he soon "became extensively know to the friends of the slaves."
The following is exerpts from his book "Reminiscences of Levi Coffin":
...Soon after we located at Newport, I found that we were on a line of the U.G.R.R. [Underground Railroad]. Fugitives often passed through that place, and generally stopped among the colored people....I learned that the fugitive slaves who took refuge with these people were often pursued and captured, the colored people not being very skillful in concealing them, or shrewd in making arrangements to forward them to Canada...I was willing to received and aid as many fugitives as were disposed to come to my house. I knew my wife's feelings and sympathies regarding this matter were the same as mine, and that she was willing to do her part.
In the winter of 1826-27, fugitives began to come to our house, and as it became more widely know on different routes that the slaves fleeing from bondage would find a welcome and shelter at our house, and be forwarded safely on their journey, the number increased. Friends in the neighborhood, who had formerly stood aloof from the work, fearful of the penalty of the law, were encouraged to engage in it when they saw the fearless manner in which I acted, and the success that attended my efforts.
....the Underground Railroad business increased as time advanced, and it was attended with heavy expenses, which I could not have borne had not my affairs been prosperous. I found it necessary to keep a team and a wagon always at command, to convey the fugitive slaves on their journey. Sometimes, when we had large companies, one or two other teams and wagons were required. These journeys had to be made at night, often through deep mud and bad roads, and along by ways that were seldom traveled. Every precaution to evade pursuit had to be used, as the hunters were often on the track, and sometimes ahead of the slaves.
I soon became extensively know to the friends of the slaves, at different points on the Ohio River, where fugitives generally crossed, and to those northward of us on the various routes leading to Canada...Three principal lines from the South converged at my house: one from Cincinati, one from Madison, and one from Jeffersonville, Indiana. The roads were always in running order, the connections were good, the conductiors active and zealous and there was no lack of passengers. Seldom a week passed without our passengers by the mysterious road...
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