PIONEER LIFE - INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION
The pages that follow will take some time to load, please wait to enjoy the full detail of the pictures. This introduction page provides an overview and sense of how much changed in 100 short years during the 19th century.

SETTLEMENT OF THE FRONTIER The frontier of the United States was considered anything beyond the westernmost settlement at any time in the expansion history. The process of extending the frontier further west is considered to have began in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown and ended around 1890, when no more land was available for homsteaders to settle.

The movement from the Atlantic coast across the 3,000 miles of our country covered wilderness, deserts and mountains until finally the Pacific Ocean was reached. This movement averaged only 10 miles a year. By 1820, all land east of the Mississippi was separate states or territories. The furthest settlement west was a fort at Tucson, Arizona.. but little habitation or settlement was between the Mississippi and that fort. From 1820 to 1850 a wave of pioneer settlers moved beyond the Mississippi homesteading along the way. These were our pioneer ancestors and this site is dedicated to their life.

EVENTS TIMELINE OF US HISTORY * * * * * * * * * * * WHEN STATES JOINED THE UNION

1763 - only the 13 original colonies
1776 - Declaration of Independence	1787 Delaware,Pensylvania and New Jersey join the Union 1788 Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and New York 1789 North Carolina 1790 Rhode Island 1791 Vermont 1792 Kentucky 1796 Tennessee
1800 - Most of the plains still belonged to France 1800 The Library of Congress is founded in Washington, DC	1803 Ohio 1812 Louisiana 1816 Indiana 1817 Mississippi 1818 Illinois 1819 Alabama 1820 Maine 1821 Missouri
1827 - American frontiersman Davy Crockett is elected To Congress	1836 Arkansas 1837 Michigan 1845 Florida and Texas 1846 Iowa
1848 - The discovery of gold at sutter's Mill begins the California gold rush	1848 Wisconsin 1850 California 1858 Minnesota 1859 Oregon
1860 - Abraham Lincoln is elected as president
1861 - Confederate States of America declare independence from the U.S.	1861 Kansas
1863 - Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation abolishes slavery	1863 West Virginia 1864 Nevada
1865 - Confederate forces surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House 1865 - Lincoln is assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC
1866 - The Ku Klux Klan is founded	1867 Nebraska
1876 - Sioux Indians defeat General Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn	1876 Colorado
1884 - Belva Lockwood becomes the first woman nominated as a U.S. presidential candidate.
1886 - Apache Indian chief Geronimo surrenders	1889 North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington
1890 - Sioux Indians are massacred at the Battle of Wounded Knee	1890 Idaho and Wyoming 1896 Utah
1898 - U.S. troops land on Cuba, Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Rider are in action	1907 Oklahoma 1912 New Mexico and Arizona 1959 Alaska and Hawaii