I agree with Deanne that the move westward usually had to do with cheap land becoming available. The Handy Book for Genealogists mentions that the Northwest Territory was used as bounty for the soldiers of the Revolution, per the Ordinance of 1787 that established the territory. "Within 61 years five full states and part of a sixth had been created and admitted into the Union from the Northwest Territory." Further, it states that around 1800 the Virginia Military Bounty lands were opened up, and Ross County was quickly populated, to a great extent by Kentuckians and Virginians. (I should mention that some of the Pontius line came from PA to Ross County during this time.) The book goes on to list many other lands that were thrown open to settlers, and basically it indicates that land was the major draw. The chapter on Indiana indicates a similar pattern. The chapter on Kansas states that it became a state in 1861, and that the population of 110,000 was mostly southerners and New Englanders, with a sprinkling from Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Another mention: Oklahoma's territorial government was established around 1890, and portions of the state were opened to white settlers in 1893. Some of the Punches line from Kansas moved on to OK. Len