Thomas Relf (1857-1940) was born in Indiana and lived in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska prior to 1900. Norton County, Kansas | 1879 In 1876, he married Sarah C Peniston in Madison County, Indiana. Shortly after their marriage, they migrated to Norton County in northwestern Kansas. It is the fourth county from the border with Colorado,Continue reading “Thomas Relf | Great Plains Roamer, pt 1”
Category Archives: Land
Andrew Van Slyke | Gone to Texas
Andrew Van Slyke chased the frontier. Born in New York in 1797, he first went to Illinois, where he met and married his wife, Electra Norton in 1824. Leaving the Northwest Territory in the 1830s, he traveled with his family to southwest Missouri. Then in the early 1840s, he moved south into Arkansas and thenContinue reading “Andrew Van Slyke | Gone to Texas”
Levi Garrison | Symmes Purchase
After the Revolutionary War, Levi Garrison emigrated from New Jersey into Pennsylvania and into Ohio. In 1798, he received 108 acres from John Cleves Symmes in the Colerain Township as part of the Symmes Purchase in southwest Ohio (C1, 4) Symmes Purchase John Cleves Symmes was the father-in-law of William Henry Harrison (9th President inContinue reading “Levi Garrison | Symmes Purchase”
James Crookham | Huntingdon, PA
The Continental Army recorded the desertion of James Crookham in April 1780. He had been listed as a bombardier, matross, and artificer stationed at Carlisle, PA during the war. He appears shortly after the war in the tax records of Bedford and Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Huntingdon County was formed from Bedford County in 1787. BothContinue reading “James Crookham | Huntingdon, PA”
Samuel Norton | Death on the Prairie
In 1820, Samuel Norton moved his family from Vermont to Crawford County, Illinois. In 1821, he died, leaving his wife and children behind on the prairie. In 1820, Samuel Norton used credit to purchase the eighty acres of land about 5 miles of Lawrenceville, in the Allison Township. His son, Samuel Harris Norton, was issuedContinue reading “Samuel Norton | Death on the Prairie”
Devine Anderson | Traveling to Kansas
Devine Anderson (1824-1867) lived in Illinois for most of his life. In 1865, he wrote a letter to a former neighbor about moving to Kansas. The obituary for his daughter, Tabitha Anderson (1861-1935), describes how she and her family moved from Illinois to Kansas in 1866 by covered wagon. The letter is transcribed below, with additional facts interspersed that connect to the letter contents.
Land in Bachelor Township
Oliver C. Crookham (1854-1890) owned land in Bachelor Township along the Missouri Pacific Railroad line. His shooting accident happened near both the railroad line and Bachelor Creek. In the southern part of the township, the Missouri Pacific line travels east west. From the east, it travels through the town of Tonovay before it goes throughContinue reading “Land in Bachelor Township”
Cader Edwards | Shifting Lines
Cader Edwards journey along the Great Indian Warpath to his final home in the Holston Settlement was impacted by changing beliefs of who had access to the land.
Finding the Yellow Bricks 