Happy Birthday Indiana!

Little Flock Baptist Church
founded by Paschal Shelburn in 1821

Today is the 200th birthday of Indiana as a State. On this day in 1816, President James Madison authorized it, and the deed was done under an old elm tree in Corydon in south Indiana almost to Kentucky.

I had several branches of my family tree here by 1840. One might have been here in 1816, but they would converge soon after Indiana became a state:

• In 1818, my great, great, great, great uncle, Paschal Shelburn, came up from Kentucky and would eventually found the city of Shelburn, Indiana. My great, great, great grandfather, his brother, Champion Shelburn, would follow in 1837.
• In 1819, my great, great, great, great grandfather George Rich married Sarah Hawkins in Lawrence County. They would end up in Sullivan County. He may have been in Indiana territory when it became a state.
• My great, great grandfather David Y. Miller married Eva Bainter in 1829 in South Bend, Indiana.
• In 1836, my great, great, great grandfather James Walls was in Sullivan, and my great, great grandfather William Tell Walls was born.
• My great, great grandfather Eli Shepherd was in Scott County by 1836 when he married Lucinda Edwards, and they would end up in Sullivan County.