This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------020108070208070604000407 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --------------020108070208070604000407 Content-Type: message/rfc822; name="Re: [PAWESTMO-L] Re: Moving ever Westward..." Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Re: [PAWESTMO-L] Re: Moving ever Westward..." Message-ID: <440FA969.5010309@socal.rr.com> Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 20:04:57 -0800 From: Tom Chapman <SurfCityTom@socal.rr.com> User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.6 (Windows/20050716) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: DONALD SINCLAIR <DSINCLAIR@indy.rr.com> Subject: Re: [PAWESTMO-L] Re: Moving ever Westward... References: <23a.81ae44a.313e6ad7@aol.com> <001e01c64201$0711ded0$71501d41@DGTQPG41> In-Reply-To: <001e01c64201$0711ded0$71501d41@DGTQPG41> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Several people have suggested that the migration to Westmoreland was prompted by "free land" - which in my opinion is a misconception. There was no "free" land - or very little. Prior to the opening in 1769, it was illegal for anybody to even live in Westmoreland except for a relatively few that were supporting the military and had temporary use of land for that purpose. 1769 was the big opening when a lot of people began streaming in, but they had to buy the land. The process was to apply for a patent by describing the boundaries of the property that you wished to claim for purchase. Sometimes this was done by family syndicates, with one or a few persons going ahead to survey the land, dividing it into patents, then doling them out to other families back in Berks or Northamton. That's why we often see clusters of migrants from one location back east settling near each other in Westmoreland. For example, my Milliron ancestors were part of syndicate from Tulpehocken that included several other allied families - such as Thomas, Herrold, and Long. It's said that Nicholas Long came first and eyeballed the land, then he went back to Berks and they all drew up their patents together. All these patent applications were gathered, sent to Philadelphia, and drawn from a big trunk by lottery. Then the winners got an option on their parcels, which they eventually had to pay for. Tom --------------020108070208070604000407--