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I am a librarian/historian researching the Beech Settlement in
nowrthwest Rush County, IN. It was settled in the early 1800's by free
African Americans, most from NC and VA, and was located near Carthage,
IN, a Quaker settlement.

There was a library in the Mt. Pleasant church (later an AME
congregation), and I am researching the families that used the
library. Those families include ROBERTS, JEFFRIES, BASS, MCCOWAN,
BROOKS, BROWN, WATKINS, WINBURN.

Also, since some of those names appear in relation to the Longtown, OH
settlement, I'm curious about any connections between the Rush County
families and the Longtown families.
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They are many agricultural settlements throughout Ohio, Indiana, and at least one in Michigan. For the most part the families that are in one settlement are the same family in other settlements. Families tended to move from one settlement to the other. Sometimes it was one or two family members moving to another settlement, sometimes it was a family unit moving to another settlement then later moving back then later moving to even another settlement etc. etc. Sometimes it was not a matter of a family moving from one settlement to another but rather one group from a particular family coming from similar settlements in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee and settling in say the Beech Settlement and another group from the same family settling in say the Greenville Settlement.

For instance the BASS family mentioned above. Off the top of my head
I know of no BASS family that came from the Beech Settlement to the
Greenville Settlement or vice versa, but they are the same family.
Some left and settled in Rush County, Indiana and some left and
settled in Darke County, Ohio etc.

However the MCCOWN family that is in Rush County is the same MCCOWN
family that is in Greenville Settlement. The MCCOWN family came from
Virginia and settled initially in Fayette County, Indiana then later
moved from there to Rush County, Indiana. Some of them later moved to
the Greenville Settlement in Darke County, Ohio and from there some
later moved to the Carthagena Settlement in Mercer County, Ohio.

Some surnames/families one will see at several settlements, some
surnames/families at most settlements and some surnames/families at just about all settlements (e.g. GOINGS and variants).