In the Indiana Asbury Female College of New Albany dedication is a classic ode to women as mothers of the republic. (This is saved as a pdf frm Google Books into the imbook directory.).
posted by Lloyd at 8:43 PM

Using the Land Office Records tool in ancestry.com it was quite easy step through section by section in (say) Grant County, Indiana. For ex, TWP 25-N, Range 9-E, Sect 1. Shows earliest settlement dates in 1837-1838.

This can be controlled by year. In this case the record images also show the residence of the buyer.

So it would be pretty easy to do a year by year analysis, and a neighborhood by neighborhood analysis.

The aerial photos show home locations, too, but these might be quite different from 150 years ago.
posted by Lloyd at 9:50 PM