Monroe County in what is now West Virginia was located right on what is known as the Kanawha Trace where it enters West Virginia near Peterstown. This was the overland trail that settlers followed to get from southwest Virginia to Ohio. It follows along the banks of the New River to where it joins to form the Great Kanawha and then follows it to where it empties into the Ohio just opposite Gallipolis. Gallia County would have been the first Ohio stop. Neil E. **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)

Well, yeh, I got that part. I've spent so much time researching this that I even know Colonel Andrew Lewis made the first trip across that trail back in 1774 when it was still known as the Shawnee Indian War Path. What I can't figure out why so many of them who went to Gallia and Lawrence counties decided to make the trip in the first place. I got curious as I was reviewing my notes about one family that came sometime between 1830 and 1840. The father had inherited a decent size piece of property in Monroe County from his father. So, basically, he had what he needed to raise his family there. Instead he packed up his younger kids and moved to Gallia County. I don't have a clue what the value of the Monroe County property might have been back then, and I considered that he might have been able to sell it off and buy even more land in Gallia County. Two of his daughters and their husbands had already moved to Gallia County, but they seem to have followed a couple of their aunts. Was the desire to stay close to both immediate and extended family that strong? I can understand why the young ones might have wanted to make the move and establish themselves somewhere else, but the fact the parents trailed along behind, leaving their home, is what is driving my curiosity. Is the desire to stay with family it? Or is there something else that I haven't yet figured out? Or does nobody else know either?! :) NEILEL@aol.com wrote: > Monroe County in what is now West Virginia was located right on what is > known as the Kanawha Trace where it enters West Virginia near Peterstown. This > was the overland trail that settlers followed to get from southwest Virginia to > Ohio. It follows along the banks of the New River to where it joins to form > the Great Kanawha and then follows it to where it empties into the Ohio just > opposite Gallipolis. Gallia County would have been the first Ohio stop. > > Neil E. > > > > > > > > **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for > fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OHGALLIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >