Paul--I agree and one of Cooper Counties most historical farms ...Ravenswood was and still is owned by the Leonard family......originally from New England........If you look at the people who owned slaves in Cooper county (and the 1860 or 61 records are available on the internet) it will agree with what you said...........the difference between what you and I said is as clear in the dates that you just gave.....when I said that people began to spread, so did the people who went up the river, opening up new areas..and moving the disembarking spot farther west..As far as the Lewis and Clark goes.......Hugh McNeal was the son of Robert McNeal who was part of the settlement of McNeals from the Bradford, Luzerne and Northumberland counties....once he left the corp of Discovery....history lost track of Hugh.....mine is not direct lineage though....just co lateral........My mothers side came to Howard and Cooper counties in 1817.........My father's not until 1857-8 in Morgan County. We were of the Scot and Irish persuation.

Those who try to revise history will always think that southerners were the slave owners and traders.....New Englanders made large sums of moneys for the transporting and selling of Slaves...and for having them to make profit......Plus......the real irony is that the same people who say that it is a southern thing, probably sleep in late and stay home from work on Columbus day...the day that commemorates the man that brought slavery to the new world. And for my part forgive me for jumping to conclusions, but to my knowledge, there is no real border that has been defind.........all I know.....is that you can bet St. Louis won't lay claim to it very soon......