In a message dated 1/26/02 8:39:54 PM, [email protected] writes: << Carolyn, I am new to this group and had a family that moved from Meigs County Ohio to Wayne County Illinois. Was there a particular reason for this migration? I am searching for the Otis and Sarah Trussell family. Thanks, margaret >> I had puzzed over this question for years, until last summer when we drove to Wayne Co Illinois and on to Meigs County Ohio. Then I could understand. I would say there were two reasons why my ancestors migrated there in 1851. 1. They had a restless pioneer spirit and having opened new land in Ohio wanted the opportunity to help carve a new community in Illinois. They came to Meigs Co in 1800 as soon as the land opened for settlement. Wayne County was opening up in 1850 for homesteading. 2. My 2nd great grandfather Samuel S BRANCH was a freewill Baptist preacher and felt the call to bring the Message to a new country. 3. And probably the primary reason, because they were farmers. Wayne County is rich, flat farmland. Meigs county is BEAUTIFUL, right on the Ohio River, very scenic area in the Appalachians, but VERY rough, hilly, rocky, hard to farm. This is my theory for what it is worth. Carolyn Remember, you have a friend in Oklahoma!