Hi all, Kansas was the stomping grounds for my branch of Kirwins, so I can add a bit here. Thomas County is in the NW corner of Kansas, county seat is Colby. You can see it on a map on the GenWeb page <http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/thomas/index.html> If you take a look at the GenWeb page for all the counties in Kansas <http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/county.html> you will see that all of the following counties were a part of the Kirwin Land District (note spelling...): Cheyenne, Mitchell, Phillips, Rawlins, Rooks, Sherman and Thomas counties. Cheyenne, Rawlins, Sherman and Thomas counties are all clustered next to each other in that NW corner of the state. Phillips and Rook counties are adjacent in the N-centrl part of the state on the Negraska border - Mitchell county is SE of them. There is a town in Phillips County, Kansas called Kirwin, adjacent to the Kirwin Reservoir. Read all about it here http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~hisite/kancoll/books/cutler/phillips/phillips-co-p3.html#KIRWIN. Named for Colonel Kirwin who founght there, I cannot find any actual Kirwins living there among the early settlers......... Here is a phot of the town in 1871 <http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/phillips/kirwin.html> and today......<http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Kirwin/index.html> That page has the only real info I can see that is relevant to our purposes... here is what it says: "n June 1871 the Kirwin Town Company was formed making Kirwin the first permanent settlement in Phillips county. The town was named for Camp Kirwan, a nearby stockade used by the 12th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalary during the summer of 1865. Colonel John S. Kirwan, the regimental commander, was born in New Hampshire and patrolled Kansas as a private in the 1st U. S. Cavalry just before the Civil War. His reminiscences of the 1860 campaign were published in the Winter, 1955 issue of the Kansas Historical Quarterly." If anyone can get hold of the 1955 issues of the Kansas Historical Quarterly, let us all know!!! Looks good! Anyone descended form John S. Kirwin of New Hampshire???? On that page is also a copy of what is written on a town plaque about Fort Kirwin and teh Kirwin Stockade.... Finally was this fun little piece of trivia, "The oldest known published version of the state song, "Home on the Range" was printed in the February 26, 1876 issue of the Kirwin Chief. " Lots of press for a guy who just passed through??? Maybe we should all meet there for a reunion??????? ;] If you really want to read about Kansas, they have put the entire Cutler's History online...... I could not find anything in 10 minutes re the formation of the Kirwin Land District...... and that is the time I could give it... maybe someone else can have better luck? <http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/books/cutler/> <http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/history/index.html> is the other site for Kansas History..... As for my Kirwins, the spelling is consistent, but they "hung out" in Wilson, Montgomery, Noble & Neoshso counties in the SE corner of the state.... see my webpage Climbing the Branches for more info http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~jmbhome/index.html My aunt has promised to remember to send me copies of the pictures of the Kirwin brothers which I will post to the page ASAP... Happy Hunting, Jana Tom Fitzsimmons wrote: > I watch for Fitzsimmons notes, too, and here is one where Kirwan > comes into the picture. It was posted on > > http://genforum.genealogy.com/fitzsimmons/ > > by Connie Fitzsimons Putnam on May 5th. I'll ask Connie to tell us > more! > > "The next three boys were born in Kansas Thomas county originally > part of the KIRWAN LAND DISTRICT. There they built the first sod > house and frame house in the area." > > ==== KIRWIN Mailing List ==== > TO UNSUBSCRIBE: we hope you won't BUT we won't take it personally either! > email KIRWIN-L-request@rootsweb.com and write in only the word > UNSUBSCRIBE in the message body. No subject necessary.....