Those who traveled west
in the early days of the United States did so for many different reasons. Some
simply wanted a chance at adventure or the opportunity to own and cultivate
their own land. Many of these early pioneers headed west to begin new lives
with extended family, and once there, learn skills and trades in new career
opportunities. Others migrated west with high hopes for finding a new home in
which they could freely practice their religious beliefs, far from the discrimination
and oppression of their original Eastern homes. Still others arrived in the
Midwest with their military units and, liking what they saw, put down roots.
One of the most influential
factors in westward expansion was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, formally
named "The Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States,
Northwest-West of the River Ohio." The Northwest Ordinance established a means
and precedent by which the United States could expand westward. In doing so,
the fledgling United States government determined the means by which a territory
could become a state and provided new land for its citizens to settle with the
promise of support from their government.
Among the determinations
of the Northwest Ordinance was one that afforded a territory with more than
60,000 inhabitants the opportunity to petition for statehood. This population
requirement for statehood was a powerful incentive for the territories to recruit
immigrants and encourage settlement within their borders. The resulting desire
of the territories to populate to statehood status was made possible by the
federal land claim process. The Northwest Ordinance provided pioneers the opportunity
to own their own land at $1.25 or less per acre. The powerful incentive felt
by those first pioneers to leave comfortable and familiar surroundings for the
unknown territories was perhaps best captured by Sir William Blackstone:, "There
is nothing which so generally strikes the imagination and engages the affections
of mankind as the right of property." [Maki, Carol L. Ancestry's Red Book:
American State, County, & Town Resources. Page xxxi. Salt Lake City: Ancestry.
1989.]
It is interesting to note
that as you research with this data set, you may be surprised to find records
of your family in one or more states for which you have no record of their residence.
As families traveled west, they often settled in an area just long enough to
be recorded in local registries (for example a census record or local history)
before moving on to their final destination. When researching with Midwest records,
it's always interesting to remember that a family may not have ended up settling
in the state in which they are recorded.
Copyright information for
each volume can be found on its copyright page. If you wish to cite information
found in one of this data set's volumes, we recommend using the following format:
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. Book Title. Place of publication:
Publisher. Copyright Date. Page Numbers. Reproduced on Genealogy.com's Online
Data Set #508 (Midwest Pioneers, 1600s-1800s).
Books Included
An Index of Pioneers
from Massachusetts to the West Especially the State of Michigan
This work consists of an alphabetical list of more than 5,000 persons who
moved from Massachusetts to New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the Midwest. The
purpose throughout is to supply name, date and town of birth, date of removal,
and state in which the pioneer settled. Additional information given includes
name of spouse and date of marriage.
Detroit River Connections,
Historical and Biographical Sketches of the Eastern Great Lakes Border Region
Here the author examines the history of the area along Lake Erie encompassed
by Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. Genealogists will find most valuable
the collection of sketches spanning the 18th and 19th centuries on the following
border families: Askins, Barthe, Baudry, Bondy, Brush, Burns, Campeau, Cassidy,
Chapoton, Donovan, Elliott, Fields, Jacob, Landon, McKee, May, Navarre, Pattinson,
Reddick, Richardson, Robertson, and Viller/Villier.
Revolutionary Soldiers
Buried in Illinois
This work contains notices of about 700 Revolutionary War soldiers who
were buried in Illinois. Most of the patriots are identified according to where
and when they served, date and place of birth, place of residence in Illinois,
date of death, whether pensioned or not, and miscellaneous biographical information.
The soldiers' names are arranged by county and alphabetically thereunder. A
complete alphabetical list of all the Revolutionary veterans follows at the
end of the volume.
Illinois Census Returns,
1810 and 1818
The 1818 census makes up the bulk of this work, listing over 4,000 heads
of families. For each household is shown the number of free white males over
the age of 21, all other white inhabitants, free persons of color, and servants
or slaves. What has survived from the 1810 census is given here in full —
some 1,310 heads of families, with similar particulars on their households.
In all this work touches on 27,000 inhabitants of the Illinois Territory.
Illinois Census Returns,
1820
This work is devoted principally to the 1820 state census of Illinois.
It contains notes comparing all discrepancies between names in the 1818 territorial,
the 1820 state, and the 1820 federal censuses. The arrangement of the text is
by counties, and there are 11,547 heads of families listed, representing over
50,000 individuals.
Revolutionary Soldiers
Buried in Indiana With Supplement
The basic sourcebook on Revolutionary veterans provides service records
and extensive genealogical and biographical data for approximately 785 soldiers
who were buried in Indiana, but were not residents. It also contains information
on a further 352 soldiers who had lived in Indiana and either moved to or died
in other states. Published as two volumes in one, both the original volume and
the 1954 supplement are arranged alphabetically, and each is followed by a full
index at the back. Mrs. Waters' compilation augments Roster of Soldiers and
Patriots Buried in Indiana, edited by Mrs. Roscoe C. O'Byrne and published under
the auspices of the Indiana Daughters of the American Revolution in 1938. Among
the sources consulted by Mrs. Waters was the Veterans' Graves Registration,
an Indiana American Legion project which attempted to list the burial place
of every veteran in Indiana as of 1940 as derived from soldiers' burial claims,
section lists, cemetery record books, county rosters, undertakers' records,
flags, government markers, etc.
Roster of Soldiers
and Patriots of the American Revolution Buried in Indiana
This publication contains the records of Revolutionary service of 1,394
soldiers and patriots who were buried in Indiana. The roster is arranged alphabetically,
and after the soldier's full name appears his place of residence, date and place
of birth, record of service (with reference made to the source), and if pensioned,
the number of the claim, date and place of death, name of wife or wives, date
of marriage, names of children, their dates of birth, and so on.
In addition, the roster
contains a list of 54 Revolutionary Soldiers Who Were Pensioned in Indiana
and Later Transferred to Other States and a List of Indiana Pensioners in Other
Wars, identifying 78 soldiers of the War of 1812 and the Indian Wars, and
showing the name of the Indiana county where they were pensioned.
"This is one of the most
substantial, thorough and useful of these collections..." — The New
York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. LXX, No. 2.
Kansas Territorial
Settlers of 1860
If your ancestor migrated westward from one of the aforementioned states
prior to the Civil War, this may be the book you've been looking for. Based
on a unique W.P.A. index to the 1860 Kansas territorial census, it lists 9,358
Kansans identified as having been born in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina,
or South Carolina. Information given on each person includes name, age, sex,
occupation, and the volume and page number of the original census schedule,
as well as an indication of the county, township, and post office of residence
in Kansas.
Michigan Military
Records
The major portion of this valuable source is devoted to a listing of Revolutionary
soldiers buried in Michigan, giving for each soldier: his full name, date of
birth, and date and place of death and burial; parents' names; names of wife
and her parents and the wife's date and place of birth and death; names of children
and their dates of birth; a record of Revolutionary War service; and a variety
of biographical information. The section devoted to Michigan pensioners includes
such information as the pensioner's rank, when placed on the pension roll, service,
commencement of pension, allowances and sums received, applicable pension act,
important editorial notes referring to biographical and genealogical data, and
so on.
A History of the Pioneer
Families of Missouri
Besides the narrative sketches and anecdotes devoted to the settlement
of Missouri, over half of this volume consists of genealogical histories of
more than 800 families from the five early Missouri counties of St. Charles,
Montgomery, Warren, Audrain, and Callaway. The genealogies typically commence
with the parents or grandparents of the original Missouri settler and continue
in lineal progression through several generations.
Missouri Marriages
Before 1840
This compilation contains the records of 16,000 marriages from fifty-one
Missouri counties formed before 1840. It is now the chief means of identifying
settlers who were in Missouri prior to the first and second censuses of 1830
and 1840. All Missouri counties with marriage records before 1840 are included
except St. Louis County and City, which have been adequately covered elsewhere.
Most of the marriage records
came from the original marriage books on file in the various county courthouses,
and these are identified in the List of Sources at the beginning of the
book. Other records came from previously published compilations, some from both.
The marriages listed are arranged alphabetically by grooms' surnames, and each
includes the name of the bride, the marriage date, and the name of the county
in which the full record is located. The researcher can write to the county
recorder's office to obtain a copy of the record needed. The book ends with
an index of brides' names that includes all of the 16,000 women mentioned in
the text.
Pioneer Families of
the Midwest
This important, albeit scarce, three-volume collection of family histories
pertaining to persons who migrated to the Midwest during the last quarter of
the eighteenth or first quarter of the nineteenth century is now available in
a consolidated edition. The author, who privately published these genealogies
between 1939 and 1941, has here bridged the earliest known records pertaining
to each family so that future researchers might be able to trace their lines
with less difficulty. Although the Clearfield edition lacks an index to the
work as a whole, a complete name index to Volumes 1 and 2 can be found at the
end of the second volume. In all, the reader will find about 150 allied families
and some 7,500 Midwestern pioneers treated within these pages.
Listed below are the main
families covered by the author together with the states in which they settled:
Harper of OH, PA, MO, and MI; Rainey of OH, IN, IL, MI, MO, KS; Boal of OH,
IA, MI, MN, IN, IL, and WI; Hope of VA, OH, MO, WI, OR, WV, and IN; Dewees of
DE, PA, OH, IN, IL, and IA; Francis of OH, NY, IA, and OK; Smith of NJ, OH,
IN, IL, IA, and CA; Dorr of CT, OH, IN, IL, KS, NE, and CA; Coe of CT, OH, IN,
and IA; Fuller of CT, OH, IN, and MO; Allen of CT, OH, KS, and IL; Pratt of
CT and OH; Davis of NH, ME, OH, IN, and IA; True of NH, OH, IA, and MO; Argo
of DE, OH, IL, and IA; and Plumly of PA, OH, and IA.
