Mc Gregor, John R. (Department of Geography and Geology, Indiana State University)
A SEARCH FOR RURAL PIONEER SITES IN WESTERN INDIANA
A survey was developed in Gibson, Knox, and Sullivan Counties near Vincennes,
Indiana to locate early rural sites. Air photo analysis, available historical
materials, and interviews with local historians and with residents in the localities
surveyed were used to identify both specific sites and the areas most appropriate
to investigate. Throughout, the land surveys which predated the Public Land Survey
in the field area served as an index to early settlement. These include French
long lots, the Donation Grants established by Congress in 1788, the Militia Donations
(1791), and a variety of odd lots. As the field work developed, progressively
more specific locality and site characteristics were identified. A total of 82
sites were located, of which 22 were identified as dating from the early nineteenth
century by either historic or ceramic evidence. [return to 1989 abstracts menu][continue to next]