I have been researching Penna's History, and saving many website links to the past. When our early settlers first arrived in Phila., they settled in either Bucks Co. and north; (i.e., Bethlehem was a major communal settlement by the Moravians with their missionaries who moved about quite freely or by appointment to certain areas such as North Carolina and even Georgia and surrounds); Philadelphia and Chester Counties (many Quakers and Welsh), and the Lancaster and Berks counties, where many of the Mennonite and Amish farmers found land suitable for farming. Note that in those days, all the counties were of tremendous sizes Berks, and what would later become Schuylkill, Lebanon, Dauphin and Northumberland counties would be pieces broken from Berks and Lancaster, and then some. The Wild, Wild West was then to the Susquehanna River; the Indians constantly were pushed farther north and west. Settlers who lived in what then was Berks County, extreme northwest, ended up living in Schuylkill, Northumberland and yes, even part of Dauphin Counties. As part of this email, I'm including an excerpt of a website describing the settlement of some of these counties, and the account of the indian attack of Andrew Lycans and his family, in the area which is now Lykens, Lykens Valley, and Gratz (now my hometown). It is a very interesting read, and with the fact that land was there to settle, much timber was there to be cut, and eventually coal was discovered on our Blue Mountain hills from Gratz all the way east to Allentown and Bethleham. Another source of future industry were the bogs which were needed to develop iron. I can imagine full well how our settlers moved west, attempting to make a life and living for themselves in this very rich land. Sit back and read and dream for a while. Many of the names you are looking for on the east side of Pennsylvania can be found right here in what was the Western Frontier of Pennsylvania. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/dauphin/history/local/runk-5.txt When you are ready for more, just ask, and I shall share some of my researches for you... such as disasters, the diseases that became scourges wiping out much of the population. You will begin to understand why so many people cannot be found AT ALL. Linda Tyson Meyers Davenport Bucks, Montgomery, back to Bucks, and now Dauphin County arel@epix.net