Pioneer History by Richard C. Schmal

Many pioneers came in the mid 1800's from New Hampshire and settled at Lake Prairie in West Creek Township.

Samuel Ames came in 1856 with other family groups of friends and relatives.

Samuel Ames was born in 1813 at Boscawen, New Hampshire, the third son of Joseph Ames (1771-1851). His grandfather, also Samuel Ames (1745-1825), was married to Jane Gerrish, sister of Col. Henry Gerrish; was at the battle of Stillwater in the Revolutionary War; and was a noted hunter.

His sister, Myra Ames, was married to Capt. Thomas Little, head of another family group in West Creek Township.

Samuel was married to Emily J. Hubbard of New York. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1874, and re-elected to represent Lake County for two more years in 1876. Samuel died about 1900, at Elkhart Ind.

Edward Payson Ames, son of Samuel and Emily, was born in 1848 in New Hampshire. He was later married to Nannie Rockwood Wason, the daughter of Lake Prairie settlers Rev. Hiram and Betsy R. (Abbott) Wason.

Nannie was born in 1851 in Vevay, Ind., and died at Crown Point, Ind., in 1891. She attended public schools at West Creek and was graduated from the Western Female Seminary in 1873, now the Western College for Women at Oxford, Ohio. Nannie also studied at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Lizzie P. Ames was the only daughter of Samuel and Emily. She was married to George E. Compton, and lived in Elkhart.

Another early Lake Prairie settler, Dr. Thomas Peach, came to Indiana in 1858 with his wife to make their home with their son-in-law, E.N. Morey. Thomas Peach was born in 1784 in Boscawen, New Hampshire, and was married in 1815 to Susannah Gerrish, born in 1797, the daughter of Henry Gerrish and the sister of Abiel Gerrish. Dr. Peach died in 1882 at the age of 98.

Ephriam Noyes Morey (1819-1902), the son-in-law of Dr. Peach, came to Indiana in 1858 and settled on his West Creek farm of 145 acres of wild land. He was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire, raised on a farm, and afterwards spent many years in construction work for railroads in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

He was living in Dubuque, Iowa, prior to coming to Indiana. The lumber to build his new house in West Creek Township was brought from Michigan.

He had married Susann Peach in 1846. Susann was born in 1826, the daughter of Dr. Thomas Peach and Susannah "Sukey" (Gerrish) Peach. She was educated at the academy at Boscawen, New Hampshire, and became a teacher near her home.

The children of Ephriam and Susann Morey were Thomas, Mary and William H. Morey. Thomas married Eliza Ann Peach and moved to Mountain View, Mo., to farm.

Daughter Mary, born in 1850, married W.H. Michael, a prosperous farmer and cattleman of West Creek Township. W.H. Michael's father, John J. Michael, was born in 1811 at Albany County, New York, and came to Lake County, Ind., in the spring of 1849.

His third wife was Eliza A. Whittenbeck. They moved to Coldwater, Mich., and were living there in 1884. John J. Michael's first home in Lake County was a log cabin, in which all his children were born. He also served as Justice of the Peace for several years.

W.H. Michael cast his first ballot for General U.S. Grant, and was selected as a delegate to district conventions of the Republican Party. He also served as a trustee and treasurer of the board of the Lake Prairie Presbyterian Church.

The Children of W.H. and Mary (Morey) Michael were: Loren P. Michael, who was a mechanical engineer at Mount Carmel, Ill.; Herbert, who graduated from Butler University class of 1904, and will be remembered by some of our readers as their friendly rural mail carrier; and Jessie M., who received a musical education at Chicago and at Indianapolis.

William H., the youngest son of Ephriam and Susann Morey, was born about 1865 and became a well known educator in the Lowell area. He received his primary training in the local schools, was a student at Terre Haute, Ind., took a course in law, and graduated from Valparaiso University as a teacher.

He began to teach in 1885, in the little one-room country schools in south Lake County, including the school at Creston. His salary was thirty dollars per month.

In 1898 he married Rhoda L. Smith, the daughter of T. Newton and Emeline (Castle) Smith. Morey became principal of Lowell High School in the early 1900's. The high school was then the building now occupied by "Old School House Antiques" located on Main St. next to the Lowell Public Library. He later served for many years as Postmaster of Lowell when the post office was just off E. Commercial Ave. at 108 Clark St.

In the 1934 Lake County Centennial edition of "History of Lake County," is a story written by Morey: "Southern Lake County as I saw it 50 years ago." He describes the area, telling about the beauty that was found in Lake Prairie. In the same book is a list of prize winners at the Centennial, and listed among them is "School Teacher who taught the greatest number of years in Lake County" --William H. Morey, Lowell, Ind. The prize was two dollars.

William "Bill"" Morey and his wife Rhoda were the parents of two daughters: Emeline G. and Helen A.

Helen's son, William Jones of Lansing, Ill., presented the Three Creeks Historical Assoc. with a collection of his grandfather's pictures and papers. Following his directions, most of the articles have been given to family members and friends in south Lake County.