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Note: Thomas Knapp brought his family to Fabius sometime before the 1810 U.S. Census as he is listed there. He is also listed in the 1820 census as well as in several deed records of the time. The records prior to 1850 for Fabius, Onondaga County, New York were destroyed in a fire.
When Thomas Knapp brought his family to Fabius, the hill towns in the southern half of Onondaga County were the most desired with those south of what is today NY Routes 173 and 175, and along Rt 20, being the most populated (generally the towns of Pompey, Onondaga Marcellus, and Skaneateles). This region was hilly, diverse, well drained, and very fertile, while much of the northern part of the county was low, swampy, and considered to be an unhealthy environment. The towns further south (Fabius, Tully, Spafford) were a bit more hilly and a bit off the direct transportation east-west highways and turnpikes and thus were less settled.
With the coming of the Erie Canal in the early 1820s (through the low lands in the northern part of the county), the whole settlement pattern of the county changed dramatically with towns popping up along the canal and much of the swamp land being drained and farmed. This is not to say that there were places which were unoccupied, as nearly every corner of the county was settled. It's just that in the early days before the canal the settlement was generally in the hills to the south with the county seat being at Onondaga Hill.
Thomas Knapp died about 1823 as evidenced by an indenture made in that year wherin two of his children (Jacob and Nathan), and his wife Martha, were selling off what appears to be the last of the estate in Fabius. His name is recorded in his son Nathan's death record (Berrien County Clerk Death Records for Sept. 12, 1877, Book A, located in Stevensville, Michigan).
It appears likely that Thomas was the son of Thomas Ebenezer Knapp and Lois Newcomb Bearse. Much circumstantial evidence points to this and research is being done to provide the necessary documentation. Thomas Ebenezer Knapp's cousin, Nathaniel Knapp who married Eunice Wright, lived in Fabius at the same time as Thomas Knapp and his family. If the relationship for our Thomas to Thomas E. Knapp is as it appears, then Nathaniel would have been his second cousin.
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