The two oldest houses at full size — the parcel layer cannot name them, and no survey article exists to borrow

NAMED GAP · SETTLER: THE COUNTY SURVEY (SHAARD) FILE AND THE PARCEL LAYER'S CONSTRUCTION-YEAR FIELD

What the assignment asks for cannot be honestly dug from the record reached, and this article says so at the size the row deserves rather than inventing two houses.History of Osceola, 1988 — the standing local settler, Indiana State Library 977.201 S143zok, not openly readable).

What can be printed without invention is the frame the two houses would stand in. The settler record (Notable People, from Chapman 1880 and Howard 1907) dates farm settlement, not surviving fabric: Penn's farmsteads of the 1830s–1850s are told as families and acreages — sections, purchases, marriages — with no statement that any named settler's house still stands. The town itself is younger than the township's farms: its plat is 1837 (vacated 1842), its growth is railroad growth from 1851 and additions from 1856, so a standing town house older than the 1850s would be exceptional and would need survey proof, not inference. At boundary size, the neighbouring city's proven oldest dwelling shows what proof looks like: Mishawaka's Garth Stroup / Merrifield-Cass House, 816 East Lincolnway (National Register, 1983), is carried as “thought to be the oldest dwelling in continuing use in Mishawaka” — a surveyed, nominated claim for Mishawaka ground, not transferable across the line. Closure: NAMED GAP. Settlers, in order: (1) Indiana SHAARD / St. Joseph County survey file for Penn Township, oldest-rated residences; (2) the county parcel layer re-pulled with its year-built field; (3) Kiracofe (1988), ISL 977.201 S143zok. Until one of them is read, this section prints no “oldest house” — a false pair would be worse than the gap.

Sources:

1. Neighborhoods, banked (parcel instrument: 1,388 parcels; owner fields never pulled — this section's own statement).
2. Notable People, banked (Chapman / Howard settler sketches — settlement dated, standing fabric not claimed); Garth Stroup House, NRIS 83000147 (Mishawaka) — boundary comparator only.
3. Settlers named in the article: SHAARD / county survey file; parcel year-built field; Kiracofe (1988), ISL 977.201 S143zok.