Just wanted to make the point that Shippensburg was in existence before 1744: "The first Shippensburg Tavern of note was Widow Piper's Tavern located on the southwest corner of North Queen Street and East King Street. The stone house was built in 1735 by Samuel Perry on land that was formerly part of the Edward Shippen farm." (quoted from http://www.shippenplace.com/historichotels.html) "Little more than an Indian settlement near a quiet spring, the town of Shippensburg grew into a bustling village after Edward Shippen began developing the area in 1737. By 1750, nearly 5,000 Scottish and Irish people had small log cabins and dwellings in the town when it became the Cumberland County seat." (quoted from http://www.publicopiniononline.com/communities/overview/shiptour.html) ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 2:32 PM Subject: Cumberland County map > The question concerning Cumberland County townships in the mid 1750s raises > many other questions! > Many people do not realize that Cumberland County in 1750 stretched the > entire distance across the state to OHIO. It is true that some of these > western lands were still considered Indian territory (and in fact, Virginia > claimed a huge chunk of PA) but it WAS Cumberland County until 1771. On that > date, Bedford County was formed and it took the western half of Cumberland. > This is important to genealogists because a birth. death. or marriage > listed in Cumberland County (1750 to 1771) could have actually been located > anywhere between the Susquehanna River and the state of Ohio. > One other bothersome bit of data from the excellent Rootsweb map page is > the 1733 date for settlement of Shippensburg. Referring to the Samuel Blunston > license book, only one family lived near to current-day Shippensburg in > 1734!!! Rev. William Swaim wrote a book calling the 1730 date a "hoax." He > found that when the surveyors were laying out the "Great Road" in 1744, > Shippensburg was not even mentioned, yet Rte 11 forms the main street in today's > Shippensburg. This book is out of print but can be found in Carlisle and > Newville historical society libraries. > > ______________________________