Day 54: Flaming Prairie Campground

Once again we have the merest thread of an internet connection, which we achieved by walking around the campground with our mifi until we lucked into a connection.

We're camping about a dozen miles south of Muscatine, next to a Mississippi River levee, at Flaming Prairie Campground ($12, power.  Water available, vault toilets).  It's not nearly as buggy as last night, and it looks likely that we'll be the only campers here tonight.

Our campsite at Flaming Prairie Campground.

A happy Lana plays in the Mississippi River while a tug pushes loaded barges upstream.

Alea and I rendezvoused this morning at a laundromat in Muscatine.  She drove, while I a rode the roughly 25 miles or so.  When I arrived I unhitched the trailer and went in search of land records related to Thomas Chinn (I had found an online probate index for Muscatine County, and he was not listed on it).  When I was done we did our grocery shopping together, then returned to the laundromat, where I pulled my bike back out of the van and we went our separate ways the 15 miles or so to tonight's campground.

THOMAS CHINN
I found no land record for him, though I'd want to recheck the index before stating categorically that he owned no land in Muscatine County.  Their land records are handled a bit differently than most counties, and having additional time would assure me that I hadn't missed anything.  And if land records are not available, the next avenue to check would be the various non-probate court records.  Sometimes if someone is involved in a legal matter, the relationships of witnesses are stated.  And if not stated, it is usually a close family member of some sort, if the surname is the same.  

If it is correct that there is no land record for Thomas Chinn in Muscatine County, then in my mind it casts doubt that this Chinn line connects as stated in my previous post.  It's been a while since I delved deeply into this family line, but my recollection is that the fabled Chinn family had some prime land in Marion County, IN (near present day Indianapolis) before moving farther west.  If so, you'd think there would be a land record in Iowa for the offspring of a well-to-do family, especially for someone who was among the first residents of Muscatine County, arriving in 1839 (when land was dirt cheap).

It seems fairly clear that this is very likely what I call a 'Franken-genealogy' - someone has pieced together lineages based upon two or more people that share a common name and similar vital record dates, without proving that they are the same person.  Most people accept it because they like the result, but I'd rather have an unknown ancestor than the wrong one (famous or not).  The more prudent way to continue researching the Chinns would be to focus on Chichester Chinn and his land holdings in central Indiana (we'll likely be there next spring or summer).  At least that way I'd be starting from a clear factual basis.  

Sorry, GW - our relationship is not looking too promising at present!