Here is the verbatim 1840 Fayette County Indiana Census report on David Hartzell:

        Jennings Township, page 105 or 205
        Head of household:  David Hartsel, employed in manufactures &
        trades.
        In household:
                1 male 30 or over, and under 40
                1 male under 5
                1 female 20 or over, and under 30
                2 females under 5

Notes: This matches with David, Barbara, James A., Margaret, and Rebecca.

Rush County is immediately west of Fayette County. If David Hartzell had a brother, he could be listed there. Names we know about are:

        Leonard Hartzell:
                bought land Sept. 17, 1832; Book E page 247, Center Twp.
                sold land Oct. 29, 1835; Book G page 320, 
                bought land Mar. 9, 1840; Book K page 396, Ripley Twp.
                        (wife Delila and Leonard Hartzell signed)
                sold land Mar. 13, 1844; Book O page 346, Ripley Twp.
                        (wife's name Delila; "William" Hartsell signed)

        Christian Hertsel:
                bought land Aug. 15, 1840; Book M page 327, Walker Twp.
                bought land Dec. 21, 1848; Book R page 237, Walker Twp.
                bought land June 25, 1851; Book T page 317 

Since we have not found land records for David Hartzell prior to 1853 (at the age of 48), it seemed we'd never know where he lived before that time, but several lucky breaks came together. Hanging in the main hallway of the Connersville courthouse (in 1998) is a large original map of Fayette County, 1856. Someone there had found it in the attic. It shows all the landowners & their land, and it even shows David Hartzell's name on the map where we figured him to be. There is at least 1250 acres of Walker family land on the map. Even though the map is yellowed and hard to read, it is a snapshot in time, and shows the roads that existed then, churches, streams, etc. Incredibile stroke of luck! In 1983, JDH took pictures of the map, but just of Connersville, Waterloo and Jennings townships. In 1998, JDH got pictures of the entire county. There is part of the 1856 map in the 1850's History section.

In August of 1840 David Hartzell and his family of 5 was living 3 miles east of Connersville in Jennings township, according to the 1840 Census, where he was a shoemaker by trade.

David Hartzell was 35 years old, married 4 years, with 3 year old son James, 2 year old Margaret, and baby daughter Rebecca. He did not own land at this time, as far as we can tell. Tracing the Census taker's route against the 1856 map, and starting from what is now Springersville, the census taker went west 2 miles (on the road that now angles south towards Connersville) to the western border of Jennings township. He went over to what is now farm road 200E in Connersville township, south on 200E, then back east on what is now Route 44 to get back into Jennings township. From here he continued east along Route 44 to where road signs now point to Springersville and Lyonsville. Farm road 325E between Route 44 and the Springersville-Connersville road did not exist in 1856. The census taker went north on farm road 450E to return to Springersville, then came back south to continue the census south of Route 44.

David Hartzell was living along a dirt road that is now Route 44, in Section 28, very likely on Alex Walker's land, 1.5 miles from the land he later bought in 1853. He lived within 1/4 mile on either side of a point along Route 44 which is 2.5 miles east of where Route 44 now crosses over the Whitewater River in Connersville. His neighbors going west were Benjamin Clark, Jack Williams, and William Walker. Going east, his neighbors were Isabella Morrow, Henry Simpson, and Samuel Riggs. William Walker, Henry Simpson and Samuel Riggs owned adjacent land which straddled Route 44, so the other people listed must have been renting (each had a separate dwelling-place) from one of these three landowners.

David's family continued to grow. Daughter Barbara Hartsell was Oct. 30, 1842. Another son, William Hartsell, was born April 16, 1848.

Leonard moved around 1845 from Rush County to Wabash County, Indiana, about 100 miles away, north of Marion, Indiana. James A. Hartsell was only 7 years old, so this may explain why there is no family record of David's brother Leonard. David probably didn't pack up the whole family if and when he went to visit his brother. Note that the 1840 census shows an Adam Hartsell (not David's father) in Wabash County, Noble Twp., the same township where Leonard was in the 1850 census. Adam was not there in 1850.

On this same note, David's father and mother had probably died before David's children were born, so the children never knew their grandparents.

NIPP - 1840's

Barbara Nipp was now married to David Hartzell. Her father Phillip was in Virginia.

In the 1840 Virginia census, we have:

        Wythe County, page 85
        Head of Household: Phillip Nipp 
        In household:
                male, age 70-79         (Phillip)
                female, age 60-69       2nd wife Nancy
                female 20-29            Christena?
                female 10-14            Rachel?

        Phillip’s age could have been mis-marked.
        Unlisted Milly may have married (was 25-29 years old).
        Unlisted Rebecca was 15-19 years old - married?

The following is from Mary Kegley. We're not sure if this is our ancestor Phillip, but it might explain why Barbara moved to Indiana so young. We don't know of any other Phillip Knipp in Wythe County. Our ancestor was born in 1775, so the marriage date of 1797 below would be reasonable. Plus, he was in the 1850 census (age 75); in 1848 he would have been 73.

"What I saw in the court order books, beginning on June 9, 1840, was that the court allowed $10 for Philip Knipp's support. This continued each June from 1841-1847 with the amounts increased to $20 and later to $25. In July 1848, the amount was $10 but in September of the same year he was furnished provisions valued at $15 for a total of $25. It would appear that he was unable to support himself for some reason or other (sickness, disability, old age, poverty, or ??) and the county helped him out. I wonder if he would be Barbara's father. He was married in 1797 and it seems strange that he would still be living in 1848, but I suppose that is possible. - Mary"

Page 156 of Mary's book, Lost Children of Wythe County, VA:
June 9, 1840, overseers of the poor to furnish Phillip Knipp with 15 bushels of wheat on his application at the Poor House.

"Uncle" George Nipp was still living in Rush County, Rushville Township, Indiana.

LINDEMUTH - 1840's

Nothing on Lindemuth for this time period.

WALKER - 1840's

1840 Fayette County Indiana Census report on William Walker, Sr.:

        Jennings Township, page 203/104
        Head of household: William Walker, engaged in agriculture, 
        none in school.
        In household:
                1 male   60-70          
                2 males  20-30
                1 male   15-20
                1 male   10-15
                1 female 50-60

Notes: This matches William, Jane, Joseph, Willis, James or Samuel (one of them missing), and John. Also unaccounted for is William, who would be 7.

Joseph Walker, at the age of 28, lived in Shelby County, Illinois in 1842, but his stay was comparatively short, according to the biographical sketch. In company with another man, he had purchased 20,000 acres of land in Kansas. By 1847, he returned to Fayette County, Indiana.

The 1891 biographical sketch says that Joseph was in the business of buying and selling cattle and hogs, driving the stock to Cincinnati over public roads (no railroad).

On Sept. 20, 1847, Joseph Walker married Sarah W. Dorsey, near Connersville, Indiana. Joseph was 33 years old, and Sarah was 23.

Sophronia Walker was born June 15, 1849. Her mother Sarah died 2 years later, after 3 years of marriage. Sophronia never really knew her mother.

Here is another significant detail. On Dec. 28, 1849, Joseph Walker bought land in Shelby County, Illinois (from an abstract on DVH's grandfather Chamber's farm). This land purchase was nearly eleven years before David Hartzell's family moved from Indiana to Illinois, accompanied by Joseph Walker. The biographical sketch on Joseph says he settled permanently in Shelby County in 1859.

CORBET - 1840's

...no information for Corbet in the 1840's...

DORSEY - 1840's

Here is the verbatim 1840 Fayette County Indiana Census report on Thomas Dorsey:

        Waterloo Township, page 59
        Head of household: Thomas Dorsey.
        In household:
                2 males 5-9
                1 male 10-14
                1 male 40-49
                2 females under 5
                2 females 10-14
                1 female 15-19
                1 female 30-39
        Notes:  If this is Sarah's family, she would be age 16, which 
        fits the 15-19 year old female.

Important - Thomas Dorsey is listed four names above Henry Walker. This proximity to the Walker's lends weight to the possibility of his being Sarah's father.

The 1850 Indiana census mortality schedule records the death in Fayette County, Waterloo Township of a Thomas Dorsey in 1849. This Thomas, born in Maryland, died Sept. 1849 at the age of 52, giving him an estimated birthdate of 1797. He would have been 43 in 1850, which fits the census report above. The record also says "widowed, farmer, died of dropsy, ill 56 days". (Dropsy is "edema", an abnormal accumulation of serous fluid in connective tissue or in a serous cavity.)

Important TJP comment: "Thomas is listed as a widower, and the small children indicated in the 1840 census are not living with Joseph and Sarah, so we would have to assume that an older sibling was keeping the family together or that the small ones were all elsewhere". See the 1850's section for the Dorsey census report that fits the keeping together of the family.

HISTORY - 1840's

Formal construction of the National Road (now U.S. 40 as mentioned before) was pushing through Indiana in 1847. Since 1832 it was hardly nothing more than a trail. Bridges were added over streams, and a plank and corduroy roadbed (?) was laid. The first steam locomotive arrived in Indianapolis in 1847.

Over in Illinois, during the 1840's, the total state population had now grown to 476,000, while Chicago had 4,850 people. Log cabins were still the most common dwelling. Only southernmost Illinois, and the western half along the Illinois River, and the area around Chicago was settled. Due to a drought in the east, wheat was now 50 cents a bushel (up from 37). Congress made a land grant of 2,600,000 acres to support construction of a railroad from Galena to Cairo, and, in an effort to get east-central Illinois settled, for a branch line from Centralia to Chicago (through Mattoon area). McCormick, who invented the reaper in 1834, started a manufacturing plant in Chicago in 1847. Abraham Lincoln was now a Whig congressman.

One thing that most surprised the newcomers to Illinois was the unusual lack of trees and brush in the vast open prairies. The reason for this was the method of hunting used by the Indians years before. They would set fire to the prairie to cause wild game to flee so they could kill it for food. To get buffalo, they would set a large ring of fire but leave an opening through which the buffalo would run to their death. After years and years of these fires, trees and brush were completely wiped out. The result was a very tought grassy sod that took 6 to 8 oxen to pull a plow through for the first plowing.