This is extremely interesting information. I accessed a record last week that said that the land of Benjamin Moore (I assume the Indian trader Ben) was used as a boundary in 1741 between Antrim and Hopewell townships. Ben remained within the Hopewell townships. (When he was murdered in 1751 Shippen purchased his planation--as an interesting side note. I have Ben's estate papers from the Historical Society). But I think I have located one of his sons (Moses) in Middleton township and possibly more relatives in Peters townships. I just wish there was a way I could find out how close these townships were to each other--we are talking approximately 1750-1760. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 1:33 PM To: [email protected] 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. ______________________________