sentences:  Pioneer families lived there as early as the 1730s or 1740s.The first settlers of the area were Edmond Matthis, William Johnson, William Robinson and John Register, followed by members of the Peterson, Knowles, Vann, Boney, Merritt, Pearson, Powell, Herring, Rogers, Bryant, Blue, Ezzell, James Murphy, Ward, Sellers, Parrish, Fryar, Williamson and Bass families.In 1745, McCulloch had obtained grants from the British Crown covering some 71,160 acres of land "lying and situated on the branches of the North East and Black River."