What Is a Settler?

I think of the words 'settler' and 'pioneer' as interchangeable but maybe they're not.  According to The Free Dictionary By Farlex, a settler is #1. Someone who settles in a new region.  and #2. One who settles or decides something.  The second sounds like a judge and the first could be anyone who has moved.  Nowadays, people are always on the move so I guess everyone's a settler.  The third definition it gives is #3. A person who settles in a new country or a colony.  I've always thought of a settler as someone who is the first ever into a new, unsettled area of land.  If you're new to a colony, that means that the colony already existed.  The colony may have been started by settlers but you were not one of them, so I can't think of you as a settler. 

I think that the difference between those who actually 'settled' the area and those who came after is massive.  Those who came first had the tough task of choosing the land and hopefully you would choose enough good land for a large group of farmers and a great spot for a crossroads (town).  If you didn't choose wisely or were too hasty, others would not join you.   They'd march on by and you'd have to close up shop and follow or go it alone on your homestead.  You'd end up having town located weeks away instead of a few days.  You didn't need town all the time but you did need to get to town occasionally.

You wouldn't do well even if you did convince others to stick around in a poor area.  They or their animals could starve or freeze to death over that first winter if they were not prepared.  Having a poor crop would help ensure that they were not prepared and it would be your fault - or be perceived to be your fault.  You would wish that they had moved on.  Cohesiveness and comradery were so essential to the settlers and they could not afford a divide.  Besides, any misfortune that befell your neighbours also befell you and your household.  Since everyone was a settler and therefore in the same boat, there was no one to help you out, no government agency to save you.  You truly were on your own.

 So it was imperative that the first family pick a good spot from the beginning...something we have lots of help with today.  Anywhere we choose to live today, someone has already lived there before or if we're building new, someone else lives somewhere near enough for us to know the general gist of the land.  We have computer maps, aerial views, previous photos, surveyor reports as well as other sophisticated scientific equipment.  It is truly impossible for us to understand what the settlers suffered through...before they even got to plant their first crops.  I think, therefore, that it's impossible for any of us 'to go where no man has gone before' and perhaps equally impossible to truly be 'settlers'.

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