Al Dawson in Berea, OH here. This is NOT my research, but an excellent posting I found in another list. Excuse me if this has been posted here already, but I missed first posting and only caught it on rebound. Scroll down for some NE Ohio history due to a volcano in Indonesia! If you, like me, want to know more about this event, here is the website for Volcano World -- The Premier Source of Volcano Info on the Web : http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vw.html OK here is the posting! Many thanks to Paul :) ----- Original Message ----- From: <MHet703234@aol.com> To: <OHTRUMBU-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, November 05, 1999 12:57 PM Subject: [OHTRUMBU] A little history > In a message dated 11/4/99 4:25:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, > pep-br@worldnet.att.net writes: > > << Hi List, > > I thought that some of you who had early settlers in the North Eastern > area might be interested in the causes of some early migrations from New > England to the Connecticut Western Reserve of North East Ohio. > > Here goes. > > The area of North East Ohio that is now the Counties of Ashtabula, > Trumbull, Portage, Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain, Huron, Erie, > Summit and a part of Mahoning, Ashland and some of the Bay Islands > formed the Connecticut Western Reserve. > > The Colony of Connecticut along with France, England, New York, > Pennsylvania and others claimed the same area. Connecticut claimed all > of the land west of their Southern border, 41 degrees North, and 42 > degrees, two minutes North, their Northern border, all the way to the > west even if they didn't know where that was. It claimed the Northern > half of Pennsylvania and the section of New York that descends along the > Hudson River to the City of New York. > > After the claims by the French and English were extinguished with the > Revolutionary, and French and Indian wars, fighting broke out between > the settlers who claimed land by reason of their various "Titles". > > In 1787 there was convened a "Court of Commissioners" in Philadelphia. > The Congress authorized the court to solve land disputes under the 9th > Article of the Confederation. Connecticut lost. However, Connecticut did > "reserve" the disputed land to the west of the Pennsylvania border, now > Ohio. > > Connecticut, wanting to get something from these distant lands, sold the > lands to a group of investors known as the Connecticut Land company. A > group of over 50 investors. > > These investors had the land surveyed and then began selling off > portions of it to other speculators. As a result, the first migration > around 1800 began to the Western Reserve. > > Another migration began in 1817 as a result of an occurrence half a > world away. > The volcano Tambora in Indonesia began erupting on 4 April 1815 and > culminated in a huge eruption on the 10th and 11th of that month. It > ejected 9.5 square miles of ash into the atmosphere. As a result, in the > North Eastern United States the year 1816 was known as the "year without > summer". Not one month passed without freezing weather, ice and snow. No > crops could be planted much less harvested. Facing devastation, > starvation, loss of property, etc., there began amass migration to > points East and South in the following years. Many found their way to > what is now Ashtabula County. > > If your New England ancestor came to the area about this time. It is > probably because of the Tambora event. > > Regards, Paul > >> Al Dawson, Berea, Ohio - MA, History, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1973. "HAVE SPOOL, WILL UNRAVEL" Professional Services Available. My Webpage: www.familytreemaker.com/users/d/a/w/Al--Dawson/ Surnames include ("Mary and John" passengers) GRANT, GILLETT, WOLCOTT, PHELPS, GRISWOLD, HOLCOMBE, FORD, COOK, CHARD ("Mayflower") FRANCIS COOKE, STEPHEN HOPKINS, JOHN ALDEN PRISCILLA MULLINS, THOMAS ROGERS and WILLIAM BRADFORD