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- President Theodore Roosevelt is a 1st cousin 3 times removed of Robert Barnhill (1769). John Barnhill (1729), was a brother to Samuel Barnhill (1732). Each married Craig sisters, daughters of Daniel and Margaret Craig of Pennsylvania. My ancestor Samuel married Jane and John married Sarah. Samuel and family moved from Washinton County, Pennsylvania to Scott County, Kentucky in 1789/90. Robert and Sarah's first six children were born in Scott County, Kentucky. The family moved from Scott County, Kentucky to Butler County, Ohio in 1804. In March 1820, Robert moved from Butler County, Ohio to Marion County, Indiana since the territory was going to be available for purchase as a result of a treaty between the Indians and the federal government. Robert applied for ten 80 acre tracts. Sadly, he and several other settlers died of an outbreak of malaria in 1821 just as the city of Indianapolis was being established. Since there was no cemetery, they were buried in a plot near where they had settled. The small cemetery was referred to as the "plague cemetery", and later as the Patterson Cemetery. Unfortunately, the cemetery was destroyed in 1922 to make room for a new medical science building on the campus of the IUPUI medical center in Indianapolis. Robert received his ten 80 acre tracts shortly after he died. I have a copy of the original patent signed by President Jackson. Family genealogist and author A. Virgil Barnhill claims this Robert (supposedly born in 1759) married Jane Auten in North Carolina. My research does not support this. I have no evidence of this family or any member of it ever having been in North Carolina. Primary source of information is John Beelar's journal published in 1917, and Opal Baker's book, "The Barnhill Family" co-authored by Sally Jane Moore. My research supports the following: "Samuel (of Washington County, Pennsylvania) moved to Scott County, Kentucky about 1790 with two brothers, Robert and Daniel" - based on historical documents regarding the early settlers of Scott County found in the Kentucky Historical Society's library at Frankfort. The Samuel referred to here is Samuel M. Barnhill (b 29 Dec 1761). In the biography of Thomas Bennett, an early pioneer of Butler County, we get an insight to the nature and generosioy of our ansestor, Robert Barnhill. Bennett "took a lease for 5 years of Levi Hawkins, on which he commenced work about the first of Mar 1816, and cleared nearly 5 acres that spring to put in corn. Adjoining the lease lived Robert Barnhill, who was a great help to Mr Bennett, by loaning him 30 bushels of corn, and when Mr Bennet had his clearing done he sent a hand and team to help plow the ground and plant the corn. Mr Barnhill afterward moved to Indianapolis and Mr Bennett thought he was the first white person that died in that city, Probably in 1817."
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=barnhill1&id=I121
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