In 1827 Elisha sold 80 acres of his farm and the other 80 acres in 1839. In the 1840 census He and Thomas Rawlings are listed in Marion county, Indiana. Thomas (listed as Rollings) is in Franklin, Twp, Marion Co. Indiana, page 282 and Elisha (listed as Rollins) is found in Perry Twp, page 243. Back in Scott Co, Indiana, Aaron Rawlings is listed with a male in the household 60-70 which could be Nathan Rawlings.
Thomas Rawlings is listed as purchasing on 15 Feb 1834 the S 1/2 of the W 1/2 of the SE Qt of Sec 22, Township 14, Range 4, Marion Co. Indiana, containing 40 acres. In the same Township Elisha Rawlings purchased 80 acres in sec 21 on July 23 1832 and 40 acres in sec 21 on Oct 30 of the same year. On Aug 4 1832, Page Rawlings, believed to be another brother, purchased 80 acres in Sec 21.
Sometime after 1850, Thomas Rawlings is found in Jackson Twp, Brown Co., Indiana. As stated, his father and mother, Nathan and Priscilla, in the 1850 census for this area, are listed as living next to Thomas.
Why the Rawlings moved to Brown Co., is unknown. I was told in the Brown County court house that all the records prior to 1870 were destroyed in the usual court house fire. Later records show that Thomas Rawlings sold 40 acres of land to his son-in-law, Alfred Whalen and his daughter Martha E. Rawlings in September 1877 for $350, however the year that Thomas purchased this tract of land is unknown. It is difficult to see how Thomas made a living on 40 acres of land which was located in Jackson Township, Brown County. This section of Indiana is very hilly with high ridges and deep creek bottoms. It was believed that many people settled in the hills to escape malaria that was common in the lowlands. They also may have preferred the hills because many people of this area came from Kentucky and Tennessee and were use to that type of terrain. Probably another reason was that this hill country was much cheaper to buy than the flat lowland county.
Most of the people in the county depended on forest products for cash as the land was too rugged to farm. What farming was done caused bad erosion and with the forest cut the land soon become worthless. In 1890 only a little over 10,000 people lived in this county. Many people spent their entire lives in the hills without going to the county seat located in Nashville, Indiana.
Today Brown County is mainly a tourist center with a large state park and Nashville becoming the home of many art shops and galleries.
Thomas Rawlings spent 40 years in Brown County being listed in the census from 1850 to 1880. He and his wife Rebecca are buried in the Bethel Cemetery, Hamblin Township, Brown Co, Indiana. This cemetery is located on the East side of Bittersweet Road, 1.6 miles North of Georgetown Pike, Section 20, Township 1, Range 3. about 2 miles Northwest of Bean Blossom, Indian. Rebecca died on March 1 1887 and Thomas died August 25 1890. The cemetery is well kept. At one time all of Thomas and Rebecca Rawlings relatives knew of this cemetery, but after a 100 years it had to be rediscover as the resting place of Thomas and Rebecca Rawlings.