The French pronunciation of "Ri-shar-ville" led through corruption to the current spelling, maintaining the approximate pronunciation "Roo-sha-ville" throughout its history. Seeming connection through spelling to Russia led to the naming of the town high school mascot "Cossacks" until county consolidation changed Russiaville High School to Western High School in 1949. Some theorize an alternate history, that during the Cold War, residents consciously changed the pronunciation of Russiaville's name in order to disassociate their town from Russia, the leading state of the Soviet Union. A map from the 1840s-1850s hanging in the Quaker Collection of Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, clearly shows a county named Richardville including the current town of Russiaville with the older spelling. Oral history has suggested "Rouchardville" as the earlier spelling, but Richardville is correct. Organized in 1844, Howard County itself was first known as Richardville County in honor of Miami Chief Jean Baptiste Richardville, . His Miami name was Pe-che-wa, which translates to Wildcat. The Wildcat Creek watershed contains most of Howard and Clinton Counties. Another chief of the Miami, She-Moc-E-Nish, was granted the Anthony Wayne Flag, also known as the Greenville Treaty Flag. This was passed down to French-Indian descendants of the family name Aveline, who were eventually linked by marriage to one of the earliest Honey Creek Township families. The Evans family is linked to both the Thomases and the Brubakers, all of whom have lands within the Wildcat Creek watershed dating back to the times of the earliest settlements. A history of this flag can be seen at the Indiana Historical Bureau, (**in. gov/history/2901. htm) As stated on the Honey Creek Township entry, "Honey Creek was organized in 1841 as a township in the northeastern corner of neighboring Clinton County. The township's early population tended to be politically Republican, so the Republican party in Howard County and the Democrats in Clinton County collaborated to have Honey Creek Township removed from Clinton and added in 1850 to Howard.[2]" Russiaville became a Quaker settlement in the years before the Civil War, and a stop on the Underground Railroad could be found in nearby New London, then the location of the Friends Meeting serving the entire area. There is a legend that the stop included a tunnel under the town from a house to a cave in the hollow of Honey Creek very near the location of the Friends Meetinghouse. Almost all of the town was destroyed on April 11, 1965, by an F4 tornado that was part of the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak.

What is constitutional law?

Constitutional law attorneys handle cases involving the construction and interpretation of federal and state constitutions, including individual rights and governmental powers. Constitutional law cases can involve issues like First Amendment rights -- such as freedom of speech, press, and religion -- and the checks and balances on authority among different branches of government. Most of the federal constitutional rights are found in the Bill of Rights, that was created originally as a limitation on the action by the federal government, but many of those rights are also applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.

Answers to constitutional law issues in Indiana

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution says that you have a right to be free of unreasonable police searches and...

The general criteria for making an arrest is what is referred to as probable cause. Probable cause arises when there...

There are two different types of warrants that may be issued:

  • arrest warrants - an order issued by a...

The Miranda decision relates specifically to the rights of a criminal suspect after he has been detained by the...

Bail is typically set by a magistrate or a judge who considers the seriousness of the offense and the likelihood of...

In certain kinds of cases, lawyers charge what is called a contingency fee. Instead of billing by the hour, the...

Gambling is subject to legislation at both the state and federal level that bans it from certain areas, limits the...

After conviction and sentencing, a defendant has the opportunity to file an appeal of his sentence. If the conviction...

Students have certain rights depending on whether they are attending a private or public school or university. A...