Cindy & Listers,
It's not really possible to make a blanket statement as to why people came
to the Wayne County area as I'm sure there were as many reasons as we have
ancestors. However, I do think the reason the area flourished can be
chalked up to the same thing we're still talking about
today....infrastructure.
Infrastructure back then was a little different, of course. The Whitewater
River, flowing though the gorge, drops an incredible amount of elevation
while traveling though Wayne County, making it an excellent river on which
to establish a variety of mills. Additionally, the fertile river valley
made for excellent farm ground. The National Road was established through
the community, bringing in additional settlers. Later it was a major rail
center, and today, Wayne County is still a major transportation center with
Interstate 70 intersecting it.
WayNet offers specific pages on Wayne County history:
http://www.waynet.org/facts/history.htm
and the Whitewater Gorge:
http://www.waynet.org/nonprofit/gorge.htm
Hope this helps shed some general light.
Regards,
Jane Holman
Executive Director, WayNet, Inc.
jane(a)waynet.org
(765) 939-0857 Voice
(765) 962-1318 Fax
WayNet -
http://www.waynet.org
Your BEST Source for Richmond/Wayne County information on the Internet!
-----Original Message-----
From: Cindy [mailto:ckimes@mvillage.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 10:02 PM
To: WAYNE_IN-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Early settlers
The family we are researching came to Wayne Co from Harrison Co, KY.
Reading about the counties around Wayne, it appears quite a few folks
from Harrison Co and the Lexington, KY area settled in this part of
Indiana. Who else on this list has ancestors that came from there, and
WHY did they choose this particular place to settle? (I'm talking about
the early 1800's, like 1810-1820.)
Cindy Kimes
P.S. Researching the William BROWNs of near Jacksonburg, abt 1812-1822.