Randolph County, Indiana

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Randolph County was formed in 1818. There is a dispute as to the origin of the name. Some say that the County was named for Randolph County, North Carolina. That County was named for Peyton Randolph, the first President of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation

Another version is that the County was named for President Thomas Jefferson's first cousin, Thomas Randolph, who was Attorney General for the Indiana Territory, and who was killed in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. One problem with this story is whether Thomas Randolph was killed at Tippecanoe. There was a Thomas Randolph listed in Capt. Benjamin Parke's Troop of Light Dragoons, but this Randolph is not shown as killed.

The obvious namesake would be Gov. Edmund Randolph of Virginia, who signed the law transferring the Northwest Territory from Virginia to the United States, allowing for the formation of the Indiana Territory. Edmund was the nephew of Peyton Randolph, and the executor of his estate. Historians have, however, studied this and rejected the obvious conclusion.

All of the above Randolphs were related, so that one can safely conclude that the County was named for this important, early colonial family.

Winchester is the County Seat. First settled in 1819, by 1849 it contained 151 houses, of which 11 were brick, with a population of about 750.

The Civil War monument on the Courthouse lawn is the 3rd tallest in Indiana and Lorado Taft, World renowned American Sculptor, produced the bronze figures