Original settlers

 Our history is pretty clear about the original Carolina colony families who came to the East Fork in the early 1800s. We know enough about them to carry on a decent conversation, and we also know which trees they cut down to build the log cabins that are either pictured or discussed elsewhere in this blog. 

Most of that is early in the 2015 entries, which can be easily accessed through the menu on the right. By virtue of paying attention, the various settlers began their Indiana lives in the places marked by the red X's. In case you can't fully grasp the distances, considering the terrain in 1804, the shortage of roads, the large numbers of bloodthirsty elk, deer, wolves, Sasquatch and gigantic snakes, man-eating elephants and horrendous snapping turtles.

All before sunset.

After dark, your worst fears came to life.

The maps are somewhat clunky and maybe confusing. In the time the Hannas, Logans, Templetons et al arrived this territory was in Wayne County, which became Franklin County, which eventually split and shared the turf with Union County. 

These cabins were all within an afternoon's stroll from the Whitewater East Fork or its tributary creeks. That is, if the flesh-eating Yellow Moths weren't in migration.

Gulp.

The X's are approximately a mile apart. The settlers bought a section of land, surveyed by the federal government and managed by a land grant office in Cincinnati. A section is 640 acres, a mile square. Later the government allowed settlers to buy half-sections and eventually even less in an effort to entice less-affluent Americans to populate the valley and the territory.

Once the section was surveyed and its geography recorded in the Deeds and Records, the settler could take possession. Rules after that were pretty simple: Don't eat yellow snow and don't feed the giant pandas. 

Most of these farms/homesteads are under water now. The cabins were all moved to Treaty Line Museum in Dunlapsville, where they still stand. 

These maps are of minimal value for a history seeker, but they do illustrate that we were able to pin down where the original settlers landed. The records are there if you want to learn your history. It's always fun to know something your brother-in-law doesn't know.