Saint Thomas was a hamlet in
Johnson Township, Knox County, Indiana, in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
It had an eponymous Catholic church, and a
Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
convent which also provided a school.
The Purcell family and melon farming
In farms surrounding the hamlet the major crop in the 19th century was melons, which were shipped out via the nearby Purcell's Station (), located south of
Vincennes
Vincennes (; ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the ...
on the
Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad .
There were also once grain elevators at the station.
Purcell's was also the post-office serving St Thomas and local merchant Lease Werker was its postmaster back at the turn of the 20th century.
The Purcells were an early family of European farming settlers starting with Isaac Purcell who came to Knox county from Virginia somewhere around 1790, and Jonathan Purcell.
Jonathan was the father of John Purcell who was the father of Noah Purcell, whose farm was next to Isaac's farm.
Andrew Purcell's farm was the location of the Purcell's Station railroad stop and post-office and it is Andrew for whom the station was named.
Andrew had a water mill and a
still house, as had Noah.
Dicksburg
Andrew Purcell originally owned the land that was sold to Thomas Dick on 1836-12-01, that would be the site of the failed town of Dicksburg to the south of St Thomas, in adjoining
Decker Township in Donations 6 and 7 (roughly ).
Thomas Dick was a relative of James A. Dick, after whom the Dick's Hills also in Decker Township () were named.
The town was located downstream of Deckertown (nowadays
Decker) on the north bank of West Fork
White River, south of Vincennes.
Amongst the owners of lots there was Isaac Purcell.
But only half of the 93 lots of the planned town were ever sold, and the entire town was washed away when the White River flooded.
By 1875 there was a graveyard at the site of the former town, which itself also ended up being washed away in another flood.
References
Bibliography
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{{KnoxCountyIN-geo-stub
Former populated places in Knox County, Indiana
Former populated places in Indiana
Melon production