Hello: I have often wondered how and why Daniel Kyger decided to go to Vermilion Co., IL and take all of his family. The why has a lot of reasons which all seem possible. However, the 'how' was something that came to me when I found out about the fact that they went in longboats down the Ohio River. Later, another 'how' came to mind, or maybe it was another why...Daniel was 71 when the family left Monroe Co. While searching for my Quaker Smith family, one new cousin sent me a copy of an article from a book. I don' have the title of the book nor the writer of the article. However, it does mention many first settlers. One being James Kiger. The very first paragraph says: "The first settlers in Georgetown Township in 1822 were William HAWORTH, James HOWORTH, Achilles MORGAN, Jacob BRAZELTON, James KIGER, and a man named BROOKS. These were from southern states and were farmers." By the way, 'southern states' were East Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas, Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Another why is that most of them didn't approve of slavery. Please feel free to write and ask if your descendant is in this article. I seem to remember someone on the list mentioning the name RITTER. Well, both John and Louis Ritter are mentioned.It seems as if you have to read all those pages for even one name. This page about First Settlers tells me a lot about the Kyger family. I can assume that James went ahead to IL, probably with Achilles Morgan and his boys, to clear land for the families to farm. Since Daniel didn't make the trip until 1833, I still have more blank spaces to fill. Its a "neverending story." Somewhere in my files, I think I have a timeline on Daniel that another 'cousin' wrote to try to fill in some of those blanks. Here's to happy searching! Kay