>> but your answer regarding Morgan Co. Ind. 1850 makes me want to ask a question - I'm looking for the GROSS family and they also were in Morgan Co. Ind. in 1850 and in 1870 Taney Co. -was this a common place of departure and arrival?<< Well, now, I'm not sure I'm quite understanding the question. As for GROSS families, there are still several here, mostly in the southwestern area of Taney. There were COX families from IN who were in Taney Co. by 1850...I've been trying to connect them to my ggg grandmother, Mary Margaret COX b ca 1827 IN, and her father, Christopher, b ca 1796 TN. Just can't seem to link those Cox families to Christopher...but I'm sure there is one, for Margaret (as she was called) and her husband, Abraham MACOMB, moved to Christian county about 1875, from KS of all places...and I can't find a reason. Margaret's mother was a POPE. Taney county was a major "destination", you could say, of families with Indian heritage; of families with a criminal bent; and of honest folk, too, who just simply didn't like interference and a whole bunch of other people (wonder what they'd do these days?) Land was either cheap or nearly free, thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862; and many folks who fought in the Ozarks or the White River Valley during the Civil War moved here after. Taney's population in 1870 was much less than in 1860, mostly due to the war, and to bushwhackers. It took a brave family willing to risk their lives to live here during the late 1860s and throughout the 1870s. As I've stated before, this is one reason the Bald Knobbers started up in 1884; during the 20 years previous, Taney Co. had not convicted nor sent one person to the State Pen. Too many people were kin to others to seat an impartial jury, if a criminal case even made it to trial. Corruption was rampant; the sheriff, whoever was "brave" enough to run for election (it was an easy job, for few actually went out chasing after someone who'd committed a crime, and most of the sheriffs just stayed around Forsyth, hanging out), seldom arrested anyone. If they did actually make an arrest, the criminal could easily break free and hide out--and this land is very easy to hide in. If necessary, they could go down to kin or friends in AR, or out to Indian Territory. My gg grandfather, General Sherman BULL, moved to Taney with his family in 1873, from Hardin/Bell Co. KY. They lived by Kirbyville less than a year, and deciding it was too rough--Kirbyville was a major town in those days, being at the junction of several roads--the BULLS moved over to near Berryville, in Carroll Co. AR. Greg's 3xg grandmother, Eliza Jane LEE BLANSIT DEAN moved here with most of her Blansit children and her second husband, about 1868. She had a sister who already lived near Bluff. Some of the stories I've heard about her indicate she was a pretty tough cookie (although not as bad as Ol' Lady Fannie PREWITT MELTON). The DEAN family moved here from IN, where Eliza Jane's husband Leander's family was from, but they originally came from De Kalb Co. AL. I've not heard about the topography of country in Indiana, but I know that the areas of KY and AL that the people I've researched came from looked a great deal like Taney Co. Steep hills, narrow fertile valleys, and plenty of privacy. Most of the folks who moved to Taney--and this is a GREAT clue--had friends of extended family, or even extended families themselves--who moved here long before the Civil War. The GIDEON family and some others who were present in 1840 and 1850 census records, and were of a European heritage (Irish, I think, in the GIDEON family), came because they were always looking for "new land", the frontier. They stayed because Taney county remained respectful of privacy, often disdainful of laws, and as long as a family minded its own business, a family could live relatively free. If a person didn't want great riches, but just to take care of his family and do as he fairly well pleased, it was a destination. I hope that answers what you are looking for. Some families only stayed a generation or so (if that long), before deciding to move on. Vonda