Hi Jack - The Big Spring Presbyterian Church was my family church as a teenager in Newville. This was Rev. Swaim's church and how I got to know him back in the early 1930s. In 1735, when the Cumberland Valley was part of Lancaster County, the valley was divided into Hopewell and Pennsboro Townships. So the Big Spring Church was definitely in Hopewell Twp, until Newton Twp. was formed in 1767. Then it was the Big Spring Presby. Church of Newton Twp. until Newville was established in 1790. Regarding your question about squatter's rights, I do not have any proof or source to check, but I do believe that they were able to sell their property when they found a buyer. This is probably when the term "buyer beware" first became popular. The Penn Family practically gave the land away, charging a few cents (annual quit rent) per acre per year. With the 1776-1783 Revolutionary War coming to an end, the Penns lost all of the state lands except the tracts that had been surveyed prior to 1776 into Manors or Proprietary Tenth. However, the new Pennsylvania authorities must have felt some guilt, so they also paid the Penn family about 160,000 pounds sterling to "buy" the remainder of the 45,000 square mile commonwealth. Glad you found your ancestors' farm tracts.........Max