Indiana was settled in the very early days from the South, KY, VA, NC and
SC. Another early wave of settlers came out of New England and New York.
PA and OH also contributed. Those from the South settled mainly in
southern Indiana and New Englanders in the northern parts of the state but
Vigo County was situated to receive settlers from both of these groups.
In studying my family I found a heavy dose of Virginians in my
grandfather's family and New Englanders in my grandmother's.
As I looked at neighbors I found other names from the Shenandoah Valley and
began to suspect a mass migration. While it did not all happen in the same
year, it is true that Virginia counties actually decreased in population
during this time when Fayette township was receiving them. I found so many
people already related to each other before they came to Fayette and
married each other there that I began to wonder how big that VA influx was.
Pam had a lot of Va people in her tree also. When Pam put up the 1850
Census, the first one that asked "where born", this was a chance to
tabulate it.
Taking the grown-ups (those who would make the decision to move) as anyone
over 18 years in age yielded the following:
born in # people
VA 145
IN 136
KY 117
NC 48
TN 23
NY 18
PA 17
IL 16
NJ 10
SC 8
Ireland 8
MD 5
Vermont 4
Germany 4
DE 2
RI 2
Mass. 2
one each in England, Canada, Missouri, Connecticut and Dist. of
Col.
For those who were under the age of 18 the following:
where born #
IN 571
IL 51
NC 24
VA 23
OH 19
KY 19
PA 4
MO 4
IA 2
MD 2
one each in Ireland, Michigan, NJ, VT, NY, and TN.
The Indiana and Illinois births can almost be lumped together because of
the proximity of the state line. Many were born only a mile or so on the
other side of the line. Conclusions one could draw from these figures are
that new Hoosiers had been in the state long enough to raise at least part
of their family because the birth place for the adults is not so
predominantly Indiana and that many of the 1850 families may have also been
in Indiana in 1840.
These numbers could be off a little, sometimes I lost my place in the data
and declined to start all over. But it is only plus or minus one or two
people in the big numbers.
Coming soon - more data. The breakdown of the elderly population, the
occupations of Heads Of Households, non standard households, etc. Bet you
can't wait.