Editing LaPorte County, Indiana (section)

== History ==
LaPorte County was formed in 1832. ''La porte'' means "the door" or "the port" in [[French language|French]].<ref name="origin"/> French travelers or explorers so named the area after discovering a natural opening in the dense forests that used to exist in this region, providing a gateway to lands further west.<ref>Calumet Beginnings: Schoon, Kenneth J. (2003)</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=De Witt Clinton Goodrich & Charles Richard Tuttle|publisher=R. S. Peale & co.|year=1875|location=Indiana|title=An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YDIUAAAAYAAJ| pages=560}}</ref>

From 1832 to 1835 LaPorte County had its boundaries and jurisdiction of the land west of it going all the way to the east border of Chicago in Cook County, IL (land which is now Porter and Lake Counties).

Before European-American settlement, all of the land that forms modern-day LaPorte County, and adjacent [[Starke County, Indiana|Starke County]] to the south belonged to the [[Potawatomi people|Potawatomi]] Indian nation. These Indians were forcibly removed to Kansas by the United States government in 1838, and many died on what survivors called the [[Potawatomi Trail of Death|Trail of Death]].<ref name="La Porte County Historical Society">{{Cite web|url=http://www.laportecountyhistory.org/history.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517164346/http://laportecountyhistory.org/history.htm|url-status=dead|title=La Porte County Historical Society|archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.potawatomi-tda.org/ptodhist.htm|title=History of 1838 Trail of Death|work=potawatomi-tda.org}}</ref>

LaPorte County's initial [[European-American]] settlers were [[Yankee]] migrants, that is to say they were from [[New England]] or were from [[upstate New York]] and had parents who were from [[New England]], and were descended from the [[English American|English]] [[Puritans]] who settled [[New England]] in the colonial era. They were part of a wave of [[New England]] settlers moving west into what was then the [[Northwest Territory]] after the completion of the [[Erie Canal]] through the Mohawk Valley of New York State.

These first settlers in LaPorte County specifically hailed from the [[Massachusetts]] towns of Granville, Boston, Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, Andover, Nantucket Island, and [[Hampshire County, Massachusetts|Hampshire County]]; the [[Connecticut]] towns of Colchester, Wethersfield, Granby, and New Haven; the [[New Hampshire]] towns of [[Bradford, New Hampshire|Bradford]], [[Amherst, New Hampshire|Amherst]] and Goffstown; the Vermont villages of Dorset, Albany and Fairfax; many also came from [[Orange County, Vermont]], [[Caledonia County, Vermont]] and [[Penobscot County, Maine]]. They were mainly members of the [[Congregational church|Congregational Church]]. As result of the [[Second Great Awakening]], many became [[Baptists]] and many also converted to [[Pentecostalism]] and [[Methodism]]. When they arrived in what is now LaPorte County, there was nothing but virgin forest and prairie. The [[New England]] settlers cleared roads and brush, developed farms, constructed churches, erected government buildings, and established post routes. As a result of this migration, La Porte County was partially culturally continuous with early [[New England]] culture for many years.<ref>''The Expansion of New England: The Spread of New England Settlement and Institutions to the Mississippi River, 1620-1865'', by Lois Kimball Matthews, pp. 201-202</ref>

But by 1850, the three Eastern states that had contributed the most residents to LaPorte County were New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, surpassing those migrants from New England. LaPorte County had the largest number of Southerners north of the Wabash Valley.<ref>Lang, Elfrieda. “Southern Migration to Northern Indiana Before 1850.” ''Indiana Magazine of History,'' Volume 50, Issue 4, pp 349-356. 1954.
Lang, Elfrieda. “An Analysis of Northern Indiana’s Population in 1850.” ''Indiana Magazine of History,'' Volume 49, Issue 1, March 1953.
Rose, Gregory C.” Upland Southerners: The County Origins of Southern Migrants.” ''Indiana Magazine of History,'' Volume 82, Issue 3, September 1991.</ref>

During the Civil War, the ''Louisville Journal'' noted that the 29th Indiana Regiment (mustered out of LaPorte) "may almost be regarded as a Kentucky regiment for a large majority of its members are either natives or descendants of native Kentuckians".<ref>''La Porte Herald,'' October 19, 1861, p. 2</ref>  Three Union Camps reigned in LaPorte County helping the Union to Civil War victory.

When the county was initially proposed and organized, its boundaries did not extend as far south or east as they do today. A section of land north of the [[Kankakee River]] originally belonged to Starke County. However, residents living in that area had difficulty crossing the river in order to reach the rest of the county. It was necessary to travel some distance east to Lemon's bridge, before making the journey south. Effectively isolated from the rest of Starke County, these residents asked that their land be annexed to LaPorte County, which was completed on January 28, 1842. Thereafter, the Kankakee River formed the southern boundary of the county. Finally, on January 10, 1850, some twenty sections of land were annexed from [[St. Joseph County, Indiana|St. Joseph County]] to the east, giving LaPorte County the boundaries that essentially exist to this day.<ref name="La Porte County Historical Society" />

Whether the correct spelling of the city and county is "La Porte" or "LaPorte" is disputed,<ref>{{cite news |first=Dave |last=Stephens |title=La(?)Porte's Space Odyssey |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/southbendtribune/access/2570281421.html?FMT=ABS |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716141752/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/southbendtribune/access/2570281421.html?FMT=ABS |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 16, 2012 |work=[[South Bend Tribune]] |date=January 22, 2012 |access-date=January 26, 2012 }}</ref> although state law refers to "LaPorte County."<ref>[http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title33/ar33/ch46.pdf Indiana Code 33-33-46].</ref><ref>[http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title3/ar3/ch5.html Indiana Code 3-3-5].</ref>

LaPorte County is noted for being the place of the [[Belle Gunness]] serial murders<!-- year? -->. Gunness lived on a farm on the outskirts of the county seat.