INTRODUCTION 11 



munity, Solon took a prominent part in almost every 

 form of individual or corporate activity the settlement 

 afforded for the next dozen years. 



In this he was doubtless notably aided by his wife. 

 Although at the time of arrival in her new home she did 

 not possess any extensive experience in frontier house- 

 keeping, she had an education of a type many of the 

 other women lacked. Her knowledge of simple medi- 

 cine and nursing and ability to do fine sewing and em- 

 broidery, combined with a spirit of helpfulness toward 

 her neighbors, gave her prestige to such an extent that 

 she was never willing to take up permanent residence 

 elsewhere. 1 



A portion of the future Lake County had been ceded 

 to the United States by treaty with the Potawatomi 

 Indians in 1826 ; the remainder was added by the treaties 

 of October 26 and 27, 1832. 2 When Solon Robinson and 

 other individuals came to this region in 1834 they found 

 government surveyors already at work, but for several 

 years no resident had more than the tentative claim of a 

 squatter, for the United States had not yet offered the 

 land for sale. Aware of the fate of settlers in other 

 frontier communities who had made the initial selection 

 of fertile acreage, improved holdings, and later lost the 

 fruits of their labor when speculators appeared at gov- 

 ernment sales to bid in their lands at prices the settlers 

 could not pay, Robinson resolved to guard himself and 

 his neighbors from any such contingency. Accordingly, 

 he called a meeting at or near his home on July 4, 1836, 

 of all the inhabitants of the region to consider protective 

 measures. Solon presided, became a member of the com- 

 mittee which drew up the Constitution of the Squatters' 

 Union, and was then elected register of claims. Four 

 hundred and seventy-six individuals eventually signed 



1 Crown Point Register, March 7, 1872 ; statement of Mrs. J. J. 

 Wheeler, April 8, 1929; Ball, Timothy H., Lake County, Indiana, 

 from 1834 to 1872, 333-35 (Chicago, 1873). 



2 Kappler, Charles J. (ed.), Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties, 

 2:273-77, 367-70, 372-75 (Washington, 1904). 



