Hello. What river was it that a ship would be on to go from R.I. to IL.? Could it be the Hudson River? Some where in my many thousands of papers i have a story about women, children and furniture on a ship that a rope being handled by one of the men on river bank lost his hold and the ship went crazy. But when got under control again and they talked to family on ship they didnt know it happened. Thank you. Viola.

You could have taken , The Blackstone Canal From Points North of Providence , Worcestor Mass, From Worcestor Mass , To Providence , From Providence , Steam / Sail Boat down the Bay . Across Long Island Sound to New York , Up The Hudson , To The Erie Canal , To the Great Lake's, or Penn & Ohio Canals , Across the Great Lake's to the Mich, Ill , Canals To The Misssipi River south to the Gulf of Mexico . Your Best Bet is to find the date when they traveled , And search for the dates of when each Canal began operation . Here are few links for more info on migration patterns Bill Keough http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/oswego/nyoswego/greatlakes.html http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/%7Egentutor/migration.html

Thaks for the answers. Some where in my million or so papers i have a letter about this. Viola.

Just search Heritage quest and for wisconsin and came across this . The western tourist and emigrant's guide : with a compendious gazetteer of the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, and the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa : being an accurate and concise description of each state, territory and county, and an alphabetical arrangement of every city, town, post village or hamlet, the county in which they are situated, their distance from the capital of the state, and from Washington city : also, describing all the principal stage routs [sic], canals, rail-roads, and the distances between the towns : accompanied with a correct map, showing the lines of the United States' surveys New York: J.H. Colton, 1840, 184 pgs. Bill Keough