In a message dated 1/13/00 9:35:09 PM Pacific Standard Time, teds@hgea.org writes: << KYJacksonPurchase-L@rootsweb.com >> Based on my limited research of movements of people from Kentucky to southern and central Illinois, I believe the cause may have been new land. It has been a while since I have researched my KY families in Illinois, but I believe the land in Illinois cost very little. I have seen on microfiche in my LDS family history center an index of land claims in Illinois. It is arranged alphabetically. Some county histories, say of Logan Co., IL tell of the place of origin of many Illinois families. The stories may be as varied as the settlers were. In some parts of Kentucky where tobacco was grown, I'm told the land soon wore out. Also the families got bigger and since agriculture was the main occupation, a man needed other land. Suggest you try (it's hard to access) familysearch.org and call up, if you can, the research outline on Illinois. Frequently there is a mini-history of the locality at the beginning of the research guide. Failing that, try to find in your favorite genealogical library a book called THE LIBRARY or THE REDBOOK. As I remember, both of these books for genealogists give a mini-history of each locality listed. Hope this will lead you to more exploration of this migration. E.W.Wallace