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Note: 1800 - The only Collin is Collon McKnight in Dunbar, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Female 26-44, 1 male under 10 and 2 females under 10.
1810 - (Colan McNitt in Ancestry's index) German Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 2 adults, 7 children. There was a James McNitt in the same place. Other researchers say this Collin is the one who ended up in Dunbar Township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, in the 1840 Census. But a biography of Collin Jr. ("The History of Jackson County, Missouri" available on GoogleBooks) says Collin Jr. was born in Fayette County and the family moved to Kentucky, then to Switzerland County, Indiana, in 1815. Collin Sr. died there.
A Land Grant was filed in Switzerland County, Indiana, on 24 Mar 1817 (SE 1/4-S 10) ("Indiana Land Entries, Cincinnati District, 1801-1840" by Margaret R. Waters). The land records said Collin McNutt of Kentucky, also these of his son William McNutt of Kentucky.
Charles McNutt bought SW 1/4-S29 on 3-2-1816. Collen McNutt bought SE 1/4-S 10 on 3-3-1817, and William McNutt bought SW 1/4-S10 on 4-7-1817.
1820 - (Colin Mc Nutty in Ancestry's index) Posey Township, Switzerland County, Indiana, male 45+, female 45+, 7 boys, 1 girl.
1830 - Posey Township, Switzerland County, Indiana, Collin McNutt, age 60-70, 1 female 50-60, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 15-20. Sons Collin Jr., William, and Alexander were in the same township.
This is from a letter by Thora Bodey Flinner (great granddaughter of William McNutt) in 1966 to another family member:
"213 Johnson Drive
Ellwood City, Pa. 16117
December, 1966
Dear Doris:
I was most happy to receive a letter from you. It has been ages since I have had the opportunity to ask Roy about you. We were frequent visitors to the Rising Sun-Patriot area as long as Mother and Father were living. Of course I think of the folks there quite often. Helen Lowe Sheldon is my faithful informer as to what is happening.
You and I are related but not by way of the Davis family. The cemetery on the Jewitt farm is the Davis family burial plot. The McNutt family burial plat is on the original McNutt acreage which was a land grant signed by President James Monroe in 1823 (I have the original grant which my mother had framed many years ago.) This burial plot is on the farm which you probably remember as the Herman McNeeley farm. John M. McNutt was the last to be buried there in 1918. I am sending you a picture of the old McNutt homestead as it looks today. It was built in 1844. The women are Helen Lowe Sheldon and myself. Laurence thought Helen and I should have a picture of the home our ancestors built.
The Collin McNutt family arrived in Posey Township in 1816 - the year Indiana was admitted to the Union- when his second child William McNutt and Sarah Smith were married in 1822, they received this land grant, built a log house on it, and all 8 of their children were born in the log house. When my Grandmother, (Emma Powell) the youngest of 8, was 1 year old they built the new house from bricks made on the farm.
It ends this way---Your great grandmother (Mary Elizabeth McNutt Cheever) and my grandmother (Emma Caroline McNutt Powell) were sisters.
You will have to ask someone else about the Davis side of your house. I think your Uncle Robert Davis knew quite a bit about them. If I can add any more about the McNutt side of the house, let me know. Attorney Otto Ford from Gregory, South Dakota made quite an intensive study of the McNutts many years ago. I have lost all contact with them. He was older than my Mother. He was the grandson of Martha Jane McNutt Ford.
We enjoyed hearing about your interesting family. Write again, and if I find anymore family history, I will send it to you.
Love, Thora B. Flinner
Also, from the same typewriter as the letter from Thora is this bit of information:
Collin McNutt
B. Ireland 1770
D. Near Patriot, Indiana 1-11-1838
M. Sarah Ketchum 11-11-1793
B. 11-5-1776
D. 1815--buried in Boone Co., Ky. She died before they reached Patriot.
Second wife - Collin McNutt's second wife was Ruth Wilbur from Rising Sun. They were married in 1822 and she died in 1842."
There are land records for a Charles McNutt who bought land in 1816 and a William McNutt who bought land in 1817. Not sure of their relationship to Collin. ("Indiana Land Entries, Cincinnati District, 1801-1840" by Margaret R. Waters). Charles appears in the 1830, 1840 and 1850 census in Franklin County. A William is in the 1820 census in Vanderburgh County and in the 1830, 1840 and 1850 census in Switzerland County.
The Jan 14, 1825 edition of "The Indiana Register" published in Vevay (Vol. 1 #48, page 3) announced a Brigade Order for the 44th Regulars of the Indiana Militia to muster on Oct. 29 1825, at Collin McNutt's house.
An article in the "Indiana History Bulletin", December 1947, published by the Indiana Historical Bureau, Indianapolis, IN, gives an excellent account of the status of the public domain in Indiana Territory, created 7 May, 1800.
"Prior to 1800 the only land owned by individuals in Indiana was either in and around Vincennes, where titles went back to French and Indian grants, or in Clar's Grant opposite the present Louisville, which has been allotted to the men who had served with Geroge Rogers Clark in his Revolutionary War campaign against the British.
Indian title to all the lands in Indiana was recognized at least nominally by the Federal government; and before any particular area was opened for sale, negotiations were opened with the chiefs of the tribes that claimed the land. Treaties were made whereby the Indians gave up their claims and accepted goods and money in exchange. The negotiations might be prolonged, but in the end the government always won out.
The first such treaty affecting Indiana land was held in 1795, when the Indians ceded lands east of a line drawn from Fort Recovery in Ohio to a point on the Ohio River opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River. A triangular strip in what is now southeastern Indiana was thus opened for settlement; but it was not until six years later after the land had been surveyed and a land office was opened at Cincinnati, that it could be purchased. In the meantime, many settlers moved in and "squatted" on the land, hoping to purchase their preferred site when the area was opened for sale.
During the first two decades of government land sales in Indiana, purchasers had to buy at least 320 acres and pay a minimum of $2.00 per acre. Four years were allowed in which to complete payments. Land auctions were held when new areas were opened, and the land was sold to the highest bidder. Any tracts not sold at auction could be purchased a the land office for the minimum price. Many purchasers were forced to forfeit their lands when hard times came and payments could not be made. In 1820 a new land law was passed which placed the minimum price at $1.25 an acre and allowed purchasers to buy as little as 80 acres. The credit system was abolished in favor of cash payments. At the auction sales, choice land often sold for three and four times the minimum price. In the 1830's and 1840's, pre-emption acts were passed by Congress to give the "squatter" who had settled and improved a piece of land the opportunity to purchase it at the minimum price before the public sale.
The rectangular system of land surveys was used for the first time in what is now Ohio in the 1790's. The system was conceived by Thomas Hutchins in 1764 while on an expedition against the Indians."
From the "History of Switzerland County", "This small cemetery is on private property on Boone Robinson Road, seven tenths of a mile from Searcy Ridge Road. Collin, George, and Patterson's stones have the last name inscribed as M'Nutt. All three are of sandstone and are the same shape. The carving appears to have been done by the same stone cutter. Ruth, wife of Collin, died in 1842 and her granite stone has the last name of McNutt, as are all of the other McNutt stones."
Also from the "History of Switzerland County": "William McNutt....his parents came to Boone County, Kentucky, in 1815, and in 1818 crossed the river and settled on the farm..."
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