-------- Original Message -------- Subject: {not a subscriber} Fulton migration Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 07:31:18 -0700 (PDT) From: bstone@netexpress.net (Edith Stone) To: FULTON-L@rootsweb.com Just a short bit of geographical information... One of the reasons that so many persons from the East wound up in Henry county, Iowa and the surrounding areas in the early 1800s was the simple fact that in westward migration there were only two year 'round points of entry, via ferry when the river was open, into central/southern Iowa across the Mississippi. One was at Buffalo (just south of Davenport) at the foot of the Mississippi River Rapids. The other at Fort Madison further downstream. These rapids extended from LeClaire, Iowa to Buffalo cutting "The Bend in the Mississippi" off from the East except when the ice froze hard enough in the winter to be traveled across. Both the Buffalo and Fort Madison sites were used by those persons who had traveled from southern Ohio and Illinois. Those who were traveling north crossed the River at Dubuque or LeClaire. Those who crossed farther south crossed at Quincy, Illinois into Missouri. At Fort Madison the travelers could move north (at one period of time in the 1830s-1840s on a plank road) to Mt. Pleasant and pick up a good road to Fairfield (where my family settled), on to Ottumwa and then northwest to the center of the state and west across the prairie. The farm land around the Mt. Pleasant area is at the edge of the glacieral movement and while hilly, is deep and rich and well suited for small farming. I know from my own family's stories how thrilled the travelers from the east were to find such a beautiful area to settle, raise good crops and gardens and live in peace. I grew up in Van Buren county, just southwest of Mt. Pleasant about thirty miles as the crow flies, and one of our family jokes was to be sure to get the spading fork out of the ground at night or the handle would sprout and we'd have to cut down a hickory tree in the morning. The soil wasn't quite that rich, but we did raise a wonderful garden! Both my great-grandfather, Joseph Warren Fulton, and my grandfather, Pearl Loyal Fulton, were truck farmers. Hope this helps some of you as you follow your ancestors movements into and across the Hawkeye State.