Weeeell, I'm going to go out on a limb and comment. The List Administrator is responsible for keeping good order on the lists, and if we get too much off topic, I'm sure that he/she (Nate?) will let us know. I am a list admin myself, and I don't mind a bit of off-topic banter once in awhile, but I won't tolerate flaming, something that is blatantly off-topic (such as job hunting in the area), or joke/virus forwards. However, each list admin is different, and the bigger the lists are, the more important it is to stick to the topic of genealogy or it doesn't take long for a list to descend into utter chaos. You are right- We can't know why folks moved around the way they did, but in the middle 1850's, many people moved to this area to pursue logging. John DuBois and Hiram Woodward were the lumbering kings of the area, and quickly got rich off of cutting the virgin timber that blanketed Clearfield, Jefferson, and Elk Counties, and everyone wanted in on the profit. I guess you could say that it was the eastern version of the California Gold Rush. With any booming industry come the sideshoot industries-- blacksmith, wagon maker, grocery store owner, taylor, cooper, brewers, etc etc. And yes, Bawdy House madams. Which accounts for a further influx of people from all over PA hoping to make it big. If your ancestors weren't here logging, the chances are very good that they were involved in coal mining. And still later they may have come to this area from afar to work in the powder metal and graphite industries of the area. OR they may have been running from the law, a broken marriage, debts etc etc. Who knows, but with enough diligent digging, you may be able to find out what brought them to this area. I think your story about the Widow Thompson illustrates that it really is quite true-- the more things change, the more they stay the same. We tend to think of folks from 100 years ago as somehow more moral than we are, and the time that they lived in as the "good old days." And in truth, they were really no different than we are now. They had unwed teenage mothers, adultery, perverts, alcoholics, thieves, etc, the same as we do today. In fact, I will share a family giggle with you that is still causing arguments in my family. My great grandfather, Ed Bish, was the first postman in Horton Twp., Elk Co., PA. The only problem was that he was delivering more than the mail. When his wife found out that he was spending a little more time with her cousin than he should have been on top of Boone Mountain while "delivering the mail", she took a .22 and shot him. Then she dragged him in the house and nursed him back to health. They told the authorities that he had been so remorseful over the tryst, that he tried to commit suicide.Today, some family members choose to believe the attempted suicide story out of a sense of propriety I guess, but there were witnesses to the whole sordid affair who tell a much different tale. By all accounts, my great grandmother was a bruiser. :-) I dunno about anyone else, but I kind of like to hear stories about the human side of our ancestors. It makes them seem like more than just a name and a date on a stone, don't you think? ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 2:10 PM Subject: Chatting > I'm new and maybe somebody could explain something. Last week Deb asked why > people moved to Jefferson County, but this week she doesn't want somebody > else to talk about the subject of documenting. Maybe I don't understand what > is okay to talk about and what isn't and who gets to decide. We had a roll > call and lots of folks wrote in but one or two didn't like it. Deb asked who > was with her and only one person went along with her. I guess that means she > was voted down. I met a lady once who was doing her genealogy and found out > somebody in her family had been thrown out of her church for running a bawdy > house. Now she thought this was funny and so did I. Is this kind of story > allowed on this list? Somebody else told me his daddy was a horse thief and > escaped to America after getting caught. He said his daddy was a poor man > who didn't have a lot of job choices and wasn't ashamed a bit. Is this kind > of story allowed? My mama used to say it's a lesson in everything you do if > you just have eyes to see it. > >