Depending on what they were carrying and who they had with them, people usually came to and from ports by water, at least as far as they could. After 1830 or so, they also usually had some control over their port of departure, because shipping lines established regular routes and shippers had a better understanding of the navigational lanes and trade winds, based on charts developed by Matthew Fontaine Maury in the mid-century. In addition, people usually went to a place that they "knew" or where they could find others they knew. For example, a family that left Basel Augst in 1821 had already sent their son and another young man to America to find the right place to settle. He sent a letter home telling them to come to Pittsburgh, but he evaluated Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincy, St. Louis, and New Orleans. They traveled up the Rhine to Rotterdam and took a mail packet (clearly there was money in the family) to New Haven Connecticut. >From there, they traveled on a variety of methods to Pittsburgh, including using the trans Appalachian canal. Once here in Pittsburgh, they utilized to rivers to move their goods (shoes, wood, leather and textiles) as far as New Orleans. By the 1840s and 1850s, regular traffic moved people not only west, but east, from New Orleans to points north, and east. You can find out where they had connections also by looking at baptism records The placement of godparents, especially among Germans but also other groups, can tell you a lot about where the families were living, who helped them, and who they thought could help them in the future. A child with his parents as his god parents was truly as isolated child. Those parents may have been in transit, but it demonstrated a truly frightening rift in the web of kinship and connections that economically, culturally, and socially supported a child into his/her adulthood, and supported parents in the raising of children. Ruth