Guilford was the first settled township in Hendricks County.[3] In 1820 Samuel Herriman, James Dunn, Bat Ramsey, Harris Bay, John W. Bryant, and George Moore settled on White Lick Creek near the Morgan County line.[4] Many of the first settlers to arrive in the township were Quakers from Guilford County, North Carolina, and named the township after their old home.[5]
An unnamed Black settlement existed in Guilford Township beginning in the 19th century. Several black families lived in the area between Plainfield and Mooresville and established a non-denominational church along White Lick Creek, as well as a colored school before 1870.[7]
Geography
Guilford Township covers an area of 35.93 square miles (93.1 km2); of this, 0.13 square miles (0.34 km2) or 0.37 percent is water. The streams of Black Creek, Clarks Creek, Guilford Branch, Hendricks Creek, Leg Creek, Middle Creek, Moore Creek, Penns Run, Rail Run, Rock Creek, Rogers Creek and West Fork Hendricks Creek run through this township.
The township contains three active cemeteries: Maple Hill, Sugar Grove and Fairfield Friends. There are four historical cemeteries in the township that have been moved or are no longer in use: the Indiana Boys' School, Lick Branch, Ramsey Family, and White Lick Friends.[8]
^History of Hendricks County, Indiana, Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Towns, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History, Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Representative Citizens. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1885.
^Hadley, John V. (1914). History of Hendricks County, Indiana: Her People, Industries and Institutions. Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., Inc. pp. 75–76.
^Balough, Linda (1999). A Pictorial History of Hendricks County, Indiana. Virginia Beach, Virginia: The Donning Company. p. 16. ISBN1578640741.
