Hi, Betty, many if not most of these families migrated because of their loyalties to England. They didn't necessarily want to be in the frey of the revolution, but had sentiments of loyalty to the "mother" country. While not all of these families were of British origen, those who weren't didn't have revolutionary sentiments. Many didn't know they were in ME, NY or VT--they thought they were in Canada; and in fact they were so close to the border--some of it established while the rest was yet to be established*for example the demarcation line between upper NY & VT wasn't fully established until the 1790's, and the border lines between America & Canada were fluent and fuzzy at best--that for the most part, they were left alone to get on with their lives. The war of 1812 was another matter, and many of these families were drawn into that frey. Susan > [Original Message] > From: Betty Clingman <bj213@bellsouth.net> > To: <MAWORCES-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: 8/23/02 6:43:53 PM > Subject: [MAWORCES] 1770's migration from MA to VT > > Hi friends, > My ancestors, along with many other people, moved from Massachusetts to > Vermont in the years just preceding the Revolutionary War. In the case of > my Fisher ancestors, it was from Worcester Co., MA to Windham Co., VT and > the year was about 1774. > > I am hoping someone on the list with a little better background in New > England history can answer a question for me. Besides the usual movement > from more populated areas to less populated areas to obtain more and better > land, were there other factors behind the migration at this particular time? > Was it influenced by "pro" or "anti" war factions or any other hot political > issues? > > I tried to find this information in our local library, but I'm embarrassed > to say, our library is painfully lacking in books on New England history. > Now if any of you ever need to know anything about Henry Miller Shreve and > the great logjam on the Red River, just let me know. :^) > > Thanks for any help. > > Betty > Shreveport, LA > > > ==== MAWORCES Mailing List ==== > To UNsub go here: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/MA/worcester.html --- Susan Hedeen --- chantillycarpets@earthlink.net --- EarthLink: It's your Internet.