Thanks for all the work you're puting into this Birdy. I am enjoying the heck out of it. You are right that once a scouting party of settlers located a favorable area the "land stealers" would not be far behind. Indians hated that.
Now 'scuse me a minute while I holler at kaywoodie
"The Spanish always attempted to strong armed the Indians into submission at a great cost. The French , on the other hand, generally took the method of intergration with Indians to achieve the same goals. The French were infatuated with the Indians. Many went "native" in those days!"
I have an old manuscript of the story of the first white settlers in this area, Leon Prarie, of Robertson's colony. Manuscript was written by a decendent in the 1900's. Their child was supposedly the first white child born in what was to become Leon County. They came from Nacodoches in 1831.
There is a one line entry that says when they arrived "there was a frenchman and his indian squar [sic] who were living in a dugout and catching mustangs with dogs"
That is all she wrote. I should imagine he wasn't the only "frenchman" out in the blue unknown.
