I am also interested in knowing why their was such an influx of immigrants
in the 1832-3 time period for St. Joseph, IN, but I am betting on the
open-land theory.
In the obituary for my gg grandfather Orsemus Canfield it stated that he was
born in Chemung Co., NY in 1814, moved to St.Joseph Co. in 1832 and on to
Three Rivers, St.Joseph Co, MI in 1839 and then migrated down to Lucas Co.,
IA in 1862. (His uncle and family had moved to Ripley Co, IN, in 1820) I
recently visited Salt Lake and in their archives I found the history of
Three Rivers, MI (right across the border from IN) and it stated that the
St.Joseph Co, IN area and Three Rivers, St.Joseph Co. MI were connected by a
river and that there was a great amount of commerce travel on that river.
I am only imagining that the St. Joseph Co., IN area opened up because of
land availability. Seems appropriate that we should contact the St. Joseph
County Genealogical Society to see what they say about the subject. They
should know better than most of us. Good hunting. Sandy Childs in Calif.
----- Original Message -----
From: <GRANDMAMAZ(a)aol.com>
To: <INSTJOSE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2001 8:24 PM
Subject: [INSTJOSE] Re: reasons for 1833 immigrations
Thanks, Adam, for bringing up this subject.
I am very interested, as well, about the reasons for the great migration
to
St Joseph County in the early 1830's. My Pettit ancestors from
Wayne
County,
Ohio came to Pleasant Valley in 1833, and were farmers. My Delcamp
ancestors, also from Ohio, came much later in 1853.
I found a couple of websites on early Indiana history online. They gave
brief descriptions of the founding of the St Joseph county townships and
churches around 1831, but did not mention why so many folks arrived about
that time.
"The year without summer", 1816, with the terrible winter of famine &
starvation in 1816/1817, caused a lot of New England & New York people to
move to the midwest. Also, the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825
increased
travel & commerce between the east coast and mid-west. But these
events
don't explain the large influx of people to St Joseph County in 1833.
Does anyone out there have some thoughts on this subject?
Thanks,
Syl in Florida
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