My family, on the Ragle side, were also German. They came into
Indiana the hard way, i.e. down the Blue Ridge before 1800, up through
the Cumberland Gap after 1810, and into ORANGE Co. IN about 1820.
I believe the migration specifically into Daviess County has to do
with the opening of the Vincennes Tract to small holdings. Early in the
history of the tract, people were permitted to buy only relatively large
parcels, beyond the ability of the average person, but about 1825-1830
the minimum purchasable size in the tract was lowered, and so the
migration from Ohio had as much to do with the pulling power of good
land as with the pushing power of population growth in Ohio. Ohio was
the first of the pieces of the Old Northwest to develop a constitution
and government, and therefore blossomed before Indiana. Also, Ohio was
accessible both by river and by the "National Road" and it was a while
before Indiana opened in the same way. (The Falls of the Ohio at
Louisville are a natural barrier to continuing down river to more
western parts of southern Indiana.)
John Ragle