Some of mine went to Kansas but came back -- I am grateful as it makes my genealogy a lot easier. <g> A lot of Lucas descendants [and widows] went to one county in Kansas - Sumner County - in the late 1870s and 1880s. My Rothwells went there but came back. That seems to have been the prime one for south Logan County. It would be interesting to know why but it could be as mundane as word of mouth. I had one double Lucas descendant family go to Harper County -- they were in Kansas in 1880 -- but I don't think they knew anyone there. They came back in 1885. RW Vet John Downing's daughter married a Vandeventer/Vandevender. They took off for Oregon in 1856 but he got sick and they ended up in the east Kansas area, never went on. I have to think there could be others like that too. I have an instance of the widow of John Downing [DIFFERENT Downing line] who was a Rankin moving to Oklahoma and marrying out there. He died in 1880 and she remarried in Oklahoma in 1892, died in Dewey County, OK. Migration patterns are interesting. I note that in my lines the people who stayed in Kansas -- siblings, cousins, etc. -- during that period often ended up becoming Mormons which also aids my genealogy. Cheryl Rothwell