The Landiss Family in Indiana

William Landiss

Was born about the year 1764 in Granville County, N. C. As stated in preceding pages, having no information to the contrary, we assume him to have been the son of John Landiss Jr. He married Mary Henderson in 1786 or 1787.

About the time of the beginning of the Revolutionary War the parents of Mary Henderson found it necessary to return to England on business supposed to have had to do with the family estate. Not wanting to take their children on this long and expensive journey they left them in the care of friends or neighbors. During the parents' absence, which was longer than anticipated, the settlement was attacked by Indians and among the captives carried away by them were the Henderson children. Mary was about twelve years old at the time. Because she had black eyes and black hair she was treated kindly, but her sister, who had blue eyes and light hair and therefore could not be disguised as an Indian, was killed.

Just how long Mary was held prisoner by the Indians we do not know. One version of the story has it she was kept by them until the close of the Revolutionary War when she was released with other prisoners under the terms of a treaty. Another version of the story is that Mary was finally rescued by William Landiss whose bride she became at a later day. Her brother Robert also was released. It is said that he returned to England, inherited the family estates and became a member of Parliament.

Sometime during the year 1811, it is believed, William Landiss, with his family, moved from Granville County, North Carolina to Bedford County, Tennessee, to the Landiss settlements on the Duck River. Five years later the family moved on into Indiana. The reason for this move has been explained in this way. The early surveys of both Tennessee and Kentucky were very imperfect and seldom correct. As a result many of the settlers found themselves dispossessed of their lands and home when later and more accurate surveys were made. William Landiss was one of these unfortunate ones. Having thus lost his land and the result of years of labor, and hearing of the vast reaches of fertile land, well watered and stocked with game, in Indiana, he decided to try his fortunes in that state.

Of this migration my great uncle, John Landis of English, Indiana wrote: "In March, 1816, we, my father, a sister and myself, crossed the Ohio River into Indiana. In August of the same year all the rest of the family followed except one sister, who remained in Tennessee. We crossed the Ohio at Mauk's Ferry and settled in what is now Crawford County, about one quarter of a mile east of the Hazelwood Sulphur Springs and opposite the old burying ground, which was then in Orange County. At that time Orange, Perry and Harrison Counties cornered about a quarter of a mile east of the Sulphur Springs. The country was covered with a dense forest and there were only three families that composed the settlement."

John Kincaid lived up the Creek known as Little Blue. Robert Field was beyond him, and Obadiah Vaughn lived a half mile east of Field. The next settler to come in was Caleb Longest. He settled on what has since been known as the Longest farm, about one and one half miles east of English.

Paoli was the county seat. Now Albany had but four houses, and Jeffersonville was the nearest place where one could get salt.

Here William Landiss lived, and here he died at the age of 79, having contributed his full share toward the building of the new commonwealth.

William and Mary Landiss had seven children whose names we know. There may have been others. John Landiss mentioned a sister that remained in Tennessee. Whether she later joined them and her name appears among the seven I do not know. The names of the seven were:

Isaac Landiss

We pass, for the time being, the record of Isaac Landiss, eldest son of William and Mary Henderson Landiss, as he more properly comes under the head of the Landiss family in Illinois, and take up those who belong more strictly to Indiana.

John Landiss

Second son of William and Mary Henderson Landiss, was born in Granville County N. C. February 7, 1799, and died at English, Indiana in 1892, being about 94 years of age.

He moved with his parents from North Carolina to Tennessee, and when it was decided that the family should move on into Indiana, he, with his father and a sister, went ahead to make preparation for the coming of the rest of the family, which was to be in August of 1818.

While yet living in Tennessee as a boy he helped to ferry General Andrew Jackson's army across Duck River at the beginning of the campaign against the Creek Indians. The ferrying was done with horses, and the boy John was one of those who would ride over with a group of soldiers to lead the horses back that another group might ride across. This ferrying took almost an entire day.

When John was 22 years of age he returned to Tennessee on a visit, and while there chanced to meet Gen. Jackson in the public highway. Recognizing the General, John courteously saluted him. Gen. Jackson, reining his horse, stopped to speak to the young man. After a brief conversation they each had a drink and went their ways. Whether they drank from Jackson's flask or from that of John Landiss must be left to your imagination, for the story doesn't tell. Possibly they had two drinks, one from each flask.

Shortly after his return from Tennessee John Landiss married Jane Kincaid. This was in 1823. Jane Kincaid was the daughter of John Kincaid, one of the three families that composed the settlement when the Landisses arrived in Indiana.

John Landiss was a man of prominence in Crawford County, and in southern Indiana. He was a prosperous farmer and business man, and at one time owned all the land where the town of English now stands. He at one time was a member of the State Legislature, and was known far and wide for his integrity. He left behind him the testimony of having been a fine and loveable man. We give only a partial list of his descendants.

William Landiss

Another son of William and Mary Henderson Landiss was born in Granville County, N. C. in 1805. He died at Temple, Indiana in 1850, a victim of the cholera. It is said that his death, the death of a daughter and the birth of his son all occurred on the same day between the hours of sunset and dark.

He married Elizabeth Kincaid, whose mother was a Downing, daughter of John Kincaid and a sister of the Jane Kincaid that had married John Landiss. Their children were:

David Landiss

Another son of William and Mary Henderson Landiss. Just where he belongs as to date of birth I do not know. He was probably older than John with whom he made his home in his later days. He never married.

Nancy Landiss

Daughter of William and Mary Henderson Landiss. She married Peter Hilton, but I have learned nothing of her family. She visited at my father's home sometime in the seventies, and at that time she was quite old. I have a very vivid recollection of her for she was the first woman I over saw smoke a pipe. Her home was in Bunker Hill, Illinois at that time.

Mary Landiss

Daughter of William and Mary Henderson Landiss. She married William Easley. The Easleys were of French Hugenot descent and came to Virginia at a very early day. In 1782 some of them moved to Sullivan County, Tennessee and from there into Middle Tennessee. The family, I believe, eventually moved to Illinois. I think one of the daughters married a Slaughter.

Fanny Landiss

A third daughter of William and Mary Henderson Landiss. She married Moses Smith. Some of her descendants still live in Crawford County, Indiana.

Section 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | Landiss family genealogy home | This material was scanned from Rev. Landiss's original manuscript by Dan Landiss