on november 3, 1791, sanger and others wrote to george washington on behalf of "the settlers of whitestown" requesting a donation of 25 acres "to support a religious minister". they said that they first came in 1787 to the area that was "at that time entirely an unsettled country" and now contained "about three thousand souls" and have "made a regular society" from the wilderness. the petition further stated that the establishment of "ministers of religion" would "encourage sobriety, industry, morality, and religion among the people, and to render them good citizens." washington agreed.