#52 Ancestors Week 25 - The Old Homestead

Amy Johnson Crow at No Story Too Small has a weekly challenge to write the stories of your ancestors. This is week #25 and the suggested theme is OLD HOMESTEAD.  I'm highlighting the homestead of my 3rd great grandfather, Elisha Sargent (1813-1866).

Several generation back, my ancestors all wound up in Indiana. They came from Germany, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. Many of them came via Kentucky. While one branch lived in the city of Indianapolis, most of them were farmers and lived in Greene, Pike, Martin and Gibson counties.

My Sargent ancestors from North Carolina settled in Martin County.  Elisha Sargent received a land patent for 40 acres in 1838.

Elisha lived on his land farming and operating a tannery. He died in 1866 but his second wife lived there until her death in 1901. Both were buried nearby at the Salem Cemetery.

However, I cannot visit the old homestead.  The property, along with most of the township that was Elisha's home is now the Crane Naval Depot. Yes that's right. A naval station in the middle of Indiana.  In 1940 with the anticipation of war, the government acquired 108 square miles and created the third largest naval base in the world. Initially it was an ammunition storage area but is now an engineering and electronics facility for the  Navy.

Location of Elisha Sargent's land patent of 1838 within the Crane Naval Station in Martin Co. IN

So the Navy acquired many of the homesteads of my early Indiana ancestors. In addition, Crane also encompassed 28 cemeteries - including Salem Cemetery where the Sargent's are buried.  The Navy is maintaining the cemeteries but access is limited.  On Memorial Day several years ago, I made the trip to visit them. Since it is a restricted area, you had to have an escort at all time.  But he was very patient as I searched the 390 graves in this cemetery to find Elisha's.

Elisha Sargent's headstone at Salem Cemetery, Martin Co., IN
Sargent Family Collection

So while there is nothing left of the old homestead, I did have the opportunity to visit several of the cemeteries and get a good idea of the rolling hills of the area where the early settlers lived.