![]() So in 1790, the current Fayette Township was portioned off from Moon Township, to be followed by Findlay and Crescent townships, respectively. The sheer difficulty of residents performing their civic duties (e.g., report to assigned polling places or attend jury trials) made it necessary for local governing authorities to parcel out the land into smaller municipalities. This round of pioneers were, by and large, wealthier than their predecessors and had the means to develop the broken and hilly areas into plots suitable for farming.Īt this time Moon Township occupied an enormous tract of land - possibly 145 square miles (380 km 2). Given that the history is somewhat hazy, it remains that in abandoning their lands, the unidentified squatters ceded any potential claims to settlers who would otherwise improve and/or cultivate the land.Īs the 18th century drew to a close, abandoned lands were taken up by new settlers who were drawn to the region by the fertility of the soil. But historians believe that they encompassed about 700 acres (2.8 km 2) or so, and were occupied by anonymous squatters. The boundaries of these land tracts are hard to identify, and the names of the original grantees are contested. Three other early grants were warranted by either Virginia or Pennsylvania land speculators. Vail's grant was established between the current Thorn Run and Narrows Run valleys (although the exact location is open to some interpretation). Loudon's tract was situated on the Coraopolis Heights adjacent to the Meek grant. The settlers Robert Loudon and John Vail were awarded grants to a total of 600 acres (2.4 km 2). In 1773, the settler John Meek was awarded a 400-acre (1.6 km 2) land grant from Virginia above the river bottom and between the Thorn Run and Montour Run valleys, and "Moon Township" was born. ![]() On April 3, 1769, Andrew Montour, an Indian interpreter who had provided service to the English settlers during the French and Indian War, was granted one of the first land patents for approximately 350 acres (1.4 km 2) of what later became the borough of Coraopolis and Neville Island. Each settler claiming land in what is now Moon Township had to go through a multi-level process of application for grant, warrant of property, and survey to ensure the physical boundaries of the property, and patent approval whereby the applicant paid for the land and title was conferred. Settlement processes were often convoluted because of differences among land policies of the several colonies claiming the land, specifically Pennsylvania and Virginia.Įach colony had its own means of either granting or restricting settlement opportunities. ![]() But, some of the land encompassing what is now the Coraopolis Heights, Thorn Run valley, and Narrows Run valley were claimed through the process of "Tomahawk Improvements", a non-specific and oftentimes contested method. Generally, the Pennsylvania Land Office apportioned land to owners through grants. On the southern banks of the Ohio, political disputes among settlers clouded the disposition of lands. In the face of this turmoil, Indian settlements of the south bank of the Ohio River typically relocated to more populous areas of the north bank in the current locales of Sewickley, Aliquippa and Ambridge.
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