Practice for carving

TL;DR -- We were looking further west but have to take the time to look at prior conditions. From the French-Indian affair through the War of 1812, a lot of time passed. And, then, New England did not cover much territory. It was looking at western Ohio recently where we realized the oversight and stopped to take those matters into consideration. 

--

As we look at the details related to the 250th of the U.S. start, we have to consider lots of angles, such as before and after. Today, let's relook briefly as the "Carving of the land" that happened after Jefferson's deal. Starting with the area just east of the Mississippi, people settled. And, more came. Til now, we mainly were looking at land west of the Mississippi. Today, we will take a look at an area further east which was known as the northwest (albeit, before Oregon came on the scene). 

This map gives an overview of the status around the time of the Revolution. It shows the areas controlled by New England (red), New France (blue), and New Spain (orange). That whole area of the middle and leftmost was the topic in several prior posts, such as State of Missouri, 1821. For instance, most of the left coast was claimed by New Spain, except for some of the northern region. 

North America in 1750

Our interest is that families moved to these areas all of the time during the century of the frontier, including moving to many states. And, that left holes in the paper trail that genealogists love. We will have some posts on the fact that genealogists are not logical. Lots and lots to do. 

Now this next map is where we were going. Having followed some families out west from the time of the Revolution and also taking the lineage back to the beginning (400 years ago and so), we now see that we need to look more closely at the lost generations between the Patriot (SAR and DAR) and the generation about two after. Earlier, we mentioned that the fifth generation did the Revolution. The sixth and seventh got things going. Then, the eighth? Got the reward? Not really, as we still had decades and decades of hard work to be done. 

In Frank's magazine (The Massachusetts Magazine), there was regular column about Michigan. By C.A. Flagg, first of series was Vol. 1, No. 2, pg 73. 

It never really sunk in until of late. Our focus had been the southern route, where northerners came west through the Carolinas into Tennessee and west. Imagine tracking a family through that. 

This next map is great as it shows the colonies around the time that we (the U.S.ers) were being trained by the Crown militarily as we supported the conflicts with New France and its American Indian allies. Those colonies are on the right coast. Now, look left. 

Notice, New England states were ceding property. We had an earlier map that showed Virginia claiming land to the west out to the Rockies (not in this map). Great country? Right? We just saw this video of people (in other countries) watching another video that talked about the size of the U.S. both geographically and economically. Things are huge. 

With, it might be added, the vast majority of the population being on the coasts. Imagine that? The good life is in the interior. In any case, We had to go back to Massachusetts for the start of a family that then was spread over this region and west. 

Here's where we are heading. When we first ran into the problem, we knew too little to have an informed opinion. But, after running into a pattern time and again, we will say this. Lots and lots of American families have been dissed. John thinks that it stinks; he has no axe to grind since his lineages are all post the Civil War. As we look at the events that led up to the Civil War and many other conflicts such as with the American Indians, lots of things call for attention. Abstracted history throws out such details as if of no consequence. Genealogists with their plodding (a mere paper chase, with little reasoning going on). Time to talk advanced logic, okay? 

If you look at the map of Missouri (above link), in 1821, when the State got started (paired with Maine's entry in 1820) with a slave/free balance, there were few counties covering the state. Some of them huge. Then, these split over time. One of our tasks was looking at Bureau of Land Management records with respect to the opening of Missouri. Since then, we have looked at other states. 

Another thing to note. We have seen, time and again, the mother dying young. The recent one, a mere 20 years old. Then comes another wife. In one case, the step-mother split when her husband died leaving a youngster (wasn't hers anyway; step child) to be raised by the families (uncles, in this case, who did a good job). The thing that grates was one established organization, y'all can see it here, dissing this poor thing. 

Yes, this'll be discussed ad infinitum until the great minds (yes, genealogists, you) come to some type of awareness that we can assess being without relying to much on paper. Sheesh, I just saw a Census that is screwed up. It's not an issue yet. We'll document it to let people know that this can happen. Too, though, as one looks at that map (2nd one, okay?), depending upon the time of the document, it could have any of those labels. So, there ought to be a way, with technology now, to do errata that persists. 

Actually, we have just begun the necessary work. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/07/2022

09/03/2021 -- See Michigan where carving was early. 

04/07/2022 -- Change Native Americans to American Indians.