OCTOBER 14, 1813

201 years ago in Washington County, Indiana Territory, Robert Bratton received his title to the southeast quarter of Section 11, T2N, R4E.  This tract was adjacent to the tract for which Alexander Little registered his claim.  [See post of April 26, 1814].  This land is found today southwest of the Canton crossroads.

Bratton was born in Augusta County, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley in 1774.  His grandfather had come to the American colonies from County Donegal in the northwest corner of Ireland. The Brattons crossed the Appalachian divide and were in Kentucky by 1793.  Robert Bratton served as a private in the Kentucky militia where he mustered in at Fort Washington.   Fort Washington was on the Northwest Territory side of the Ohio River and was the main supply point for the protection of Kentucky from attack by Native Americans to the north. Bratton was paid $1 a day for 36 days of service in Captain Ezekiel Hayden’s mounted company. This company was part of the 2d Division of the Kentucky Militia which was commanded by Major General Charles Scott who later became the 4^th governor of Kentucky.  Scott County, Indiana is named after him.

By 1801, Bratton was listed as a taxpayer in Franklin County, Kentucky.  He married Nancy McCoskey in 1811.  She was born of a Scottish father and an Irish mother.  They moved to the Indiana Territory in 1813 with a young child and moved onto the land that Bratton purchased on the rolling terrain east of Royse’s Lick 201 years ago today.

The Brattons sold 100 acres of their farm to Jacob and Miriam Bogue Morris on November 19, 1814 for $600.  On the same date they sold the rest of the farm (60) acres to Robert Tilford for $130.  The Brattons then made a 25% down payment on 2 lots in Salem (lots 159 and 160) but then sold their purchase contract to John E. Clark for $8.50 on July 3, 1816.  These lots were located in the very northwest corner of DePauw's original plat on the east bank of Brock Creek.

The Brattons were then drawn to new lands opened up for settlement near Terre Haute, Indiana when they moved to Vigo County in 1816.  He sold one claim in 1823 there and then completed the purchase of 320 acres on January 2, 1828 in the area near Honey Creek which flows west to the Wabash River.  The Brattons had eleven children.  All but one of them moved to the Republic of Texas.

                           AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA COUNTRYSIDE

                                              BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES SCOTT
                                         FOR WHOM SCOTT COUNTY, IN WAS NAMED

                             GOOGLE EARTH VIEW OF ROBERT BRATTON LAND PATENT