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Archiver > IA-IRISH > 2001-05 > 0990126654


From: "Donkelly" <>
Subject: [IA-IRISH] Re: Settlement of Iowa/Illinois
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 12:10:54 -0700
References: <17.15d81351.28349be6@aol.com> <005501c0de9a$f068be20$0100007f@jcn1.com>


When my ancestors came from Ireland around 1700 or so, Iowa was still wild
Indian country and probably not open to settlement.

So I guess my question is best addressed to the historians among you.

When and where did Europeans (including Irish I think) first settle in Iowa?

According to my great grandmother Beebe as told from childhood memories and
stories she heard from her grandmothers, white people first settled as
trappers on
north shore of the big lake (probably lake superior) then crossed the lake
to settle now Illinois.

Concurrently some white settlers were coming from the east through the Ohio
Valley
(in Ox carts she said) who settled near Indian villages.

The Indians tolerated the early settlers, even helped them, but that was
before greater influxes of whites came after 1750, and before any major war
between whites and Indians occurred in that area.

Sometime after that they began moving across the river into Iowa, started
logging the land, and that was when really big trouble started with the
Indians.

Thanks for your help.

Don Kelly
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