Dear Cousins, One of the things that remained constant within the migrating peoples, regardless of their locality and centuries was their reliance upon water and waterways.The earliest forays were not made by settlers, but by frontiersmen -- in the middle colonies -- in the form of Christopher Gist, Abraham Pennington and Daniel Boone, who initially were Indian/fur traders. Christopher Gist and Daniel Boone were also surveyors. As land grants were made available to the Land Companies and a few Individuals, the surveyors went in and laid out the tracts. Only then could masses of people begin migrating and settling. There were very few roads, and most of these were deer and Indian paths, barely suitable for men ahorseback. Therefore, the initial settlements had halted along the coastal waterways, and moving inland, along the major rivers. The settlers had to travel by river, or along "wagon roads," which could bear the heavier loads for commerce and migration. These massive wagons were manufactured at Conestoga in Lancaster, PA and became the means of earliest migrations. Later migrations to the Pacific could not use Conestoga wagons, despite popular cinematic productions to the contrary! They were too heavy. In Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna was the first great inland aorta for migration. Then, later, at the extreme westward frontier in Pennsylvania, it was the massive watershed and waterway formed the Ohio, the Allegheny and the Monongahela River, conjoining at what is now Pittsburgh (fans will understand the significance of Three Rivers Stadium!) This was Christopher Gist's playground, after he left Baltimore County, Maryland. Here he guided the young George Washington on a spying venture deep into enemy territory just prior to the French and Indian War. (The Seven Years War.) Here Washington outlined the plans for the frontier forts that would be built as a result of this adventure, and actually oversaw the building of Ft. Necessity. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html Here Gist scouted for the British/American interests during the war; here Washington marched with General Braddock to fatal destiny, and here the young Daniel Boone was a wagonner, perhaps listening to Gist spin tales around a campfire about the grandeur of the Ohio River country, and dark and bloody grounds. The first National Road (begun after the War of 1812) ran from Baltimore to Ohio, and followed these earliest, most historic venturers. http://www.nps.gov/fone/natlroad.htm The Potomac and the Mongahela were the next principal waterways to facilitate migration and settlement. Maryland people were joined by Pennsylvanians and others (NY, NJ, DE) from the Delaware River Valley along Virginia River tributeries. The Shenandoah River became the focus of these migrations. Settlement took place along the Opequan near Winchester, (first called Fredericktown) which became a Great Crossroads locale along the Great Wagon Road, which ran from Philadelphia into the Carolinas. Two large settlements were made near Winchester: Sherrando (Shenandoah) and Hopewell. Hopewell was geared to Quakers and Sherrando was more about All Others! Another Pennsylvanian, Jacob Stover led a group of Germans (Deutsch) into the area. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads/Migrations/virginia.ht ml America was an agrarian society even into the 20th century. As people moved into frontier areas, waterways were used not just for transportation and commerce, but as the means for a family's successful settlement and survival. We are fortunate that both the Virginia and Kentucky patents are available online. That most wonderful of all sites, the Library of Virginia http://image.vtls.com/collections/LO.html has put copies of the patents online, and I access Kentucky patents through Ancestry.com. You can then put these into watercourse databases and examine who was upstream and downstream from your ancestor, and thereby determine their kith and kin communities. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads/Migrations/virginia.ht ml The Watts were first in Orange county (from which Frederick county was formed). Then were also in Culpepper and Bedford Counties, and are found in the tax records in Jeffrey Weaver's New River Valley Notes. (along with Finwinkles, i.e., Van Winkles. The migrating Markhams (Marcam, Marcum) were in Stafford county, while very early ones (although probably related at some point) were in Henrico, Chesterfield, and Prince Edward. My Markhams seem to have removed from Prince Edward to that portion of Montgomery County which became Giles county. They are on the 1806 Tax list (NRVN http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nrv.htm sold land, also in 1806, (John and Sarah Markham to Farley) and by 1808 are found in Wayne County, KY. By 1810 the marriage of Thomas Watts and Eady Markham, daughter of John, took place. In 1820 John Watts Sr., and Jr. was in Overton County, TN from which Fentress was carved. Other Watts kinship included the Yorks and Eatons. Also in the area, Mark Twains' family, and the Abraham Lincoln's family. They lived along the Obed, Obey River, which ran out of Kentucky and into Tennessee. There are lots of nice waterways and watershed sites. Because of the family names and locales, one I thought was interesting is: http://www.dalehollow-lake.net/html/body_cumberriv.html This is quite a bit for one gulp. I'm still trying to get the additions to the website up. One will be the Potomac Perimeter, one will be added to the NW SW Perimeter pages. My landlord trial is Wednesday! Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn Carolyn McDaniel cmacdee@teleport.com ========================================= --- Visit American Crossroads --- http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads