Bill Eddleman

The Internet is great for making family connections! In October, I searched for possible descendants of Johann Wilhelm and Christina (Schuck) Fulbright�s daughter Dorothea. Information in Lorena Eaker�s book, German Speaking Peoples West of the Catawba River, indicated that Dorothea (called Dolly in most records) and her husband Elias Moyers, Jr. had left North Carolina for Daviess Co., Indiana about 1816. Thus, I placed queries on the Daviess Co. web site, and on the Moyers/Myers GenForum. I hit paydirt! I contacted Cathy Myers Earley, found that the family has hundreds of descendants, and that one descendant, Garnett (McCallian) Edwards (and her husband Chester B. Edwards) had published a genealogy in 1978. The surname spelling changed to Myers in Indiana, for unknown reasons. Cathy was VERY kind to send me a photocopy of the entire book (115 pages). I obviously can�t include ALL of this, but have summarized some of the introductory material below. It is also rumored (but I do not have the proof yet) that Elisabeth, Dolly�s sister, and her husband Matthias Killian took the same route to Indiana. More on that later!

The Area Where Elias and Dolly Settled

The family settled in the present-day Cornettsville area in Bogard Township (Twp.) in Daviess County. According to the 1886 edition of the History of Knox and Daviess Counties Indiana, the settlement of Epsom in Bogard Twp. was made in 1815 or 1816 by Peter Yount. Other early settlers in Bogard Twp. were Elias Myers who came from N. Carolina in 1816 and settled near what is now Cornettsville; Abraham Snyder, who located immediately east of Epsom; Joseph Myers, right south of Epsom; and John Ruminer, west. Epsom was first known as "Tophet", but the present name was given it because the water from a well, dug by a Mr. Page, was thought to resemble in taste the famous Epsom salts. The village of Cornettsville was laid out in 1875 by John F. Myers and Samuel Cornett.

The Family of Elias and Dolly

The Myers section of this Mrs. Edwards� book was started by Wilson C. Myers and sent to Stephen E. Myers so that he could add to it then in 1954. It was also added to by Nathan Robert Myers in 1956, and in the 1970s by Mrs. Chester (Garnett McCallian) Edwards.

ELIAS MYERS & DOLLY (FULBRIGHT) MYERS, maternal great-great-great grandparents of Garnett (McCallian) Edwards, were born and married in Germany [ed. note: both are believed to have been born in Pennsylvania and they were married in North Carolina]. As young people they migrated to America, first settling in Lincoln Co., N. Carolina. Later they moved to Pennsylvania, then to Kentucky, and finally in 1808 to Indiana [ed. note: the order of these moves is also incorrect]. Here they settled on a farm in Bogard Twp., Daviess Co., in the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 30 in Township 4 North, Range 6 West: this is near Mt. Zion Church. (I would question the 1808 date, as a Daviess County History published in 1886, speaking of Bogard Twp., notes that among the first, if not the first, to settle there were Elias Myers, who came from N. Carolina in 1816.) In the book, Indiana Land Entries 1807-1877, it lists his first land entry on May 23, 1817, being the SW - S30 -T4N - R6W (160 acres) and on Jan. 28, 1818 he purchased the NW - S30 -T4N - R6W (160 acres). Later he relinquished W - SW - S30 (80) and W - NW - S30 (80) T4N - R6W, then on Apr. 9, 1836 he got back the W - NW S30. This would have been one-half mile west of what is now the town of Cornettsville, which was not platted until 1875. Other land entries listed for Elias were: E - NE - S36 - (80) on 7-6-1821 and E - NE - S25 (80) on 11-10-1825, both in T4N - R7W in what is now Steele Twp. Also SW - SW - S19 - T4N - R6W on 1-9-1838 and NW - NW - S21 - T4N - R6W on 10-4-1850 in Bogard Twp [ed. note: these entries could be for Elias Jr., since Elias died in 1833]. They were the parents of eight children: William, Elias, Daniel, Fredrick, Joseph, Elizabeth, Susan, and Dolly. (One source said there was also a Christiana, who m. a Killion; she d. in 1833, buried at Cornettsville; but this is not confirmed.) [Editor's note: the estate papers would indicate there were two other sons, Elijah and John, and that there was no daughter Christiana.]