Message text written by INTERNET:SC-OLD-PENDLETON-DIST-L@rootsweb.com Message from Mrs. Tinkler >Here's another I want some illumination about: My ggf & ggm (Garrison & Maria Hardy Linn) as well as other members of the extended family moved about 1840 from OPD to Cass County, Georgia, where they died within 5-7 years. One of their sons (Julius Weston) went to the Medical College of Georgia, where he graduated in 1859. By 1860, he had moved to Marshall County, Alabama. His mother's relatives & his older brother were still in Cass County, Georgia. His first wife was born & raised in Alabama. What drew his parents to Cass? What drew him to Marshall County, Alabama? Is there any explanation more than the urge to move west? They were neither farmers nor gold miners.< **************************************** I have been meaning to research what generated the big migration of Anderson County, SC, folks to San Mountain, AL (Dekalb, Marshall and parts of a couple of other counties) in the late 1850's. I just haven't done it yet. Some of my Wilbanks and Mayfields were among those that migrated around 1856-1858. I've been told a couple of reasons. One person told me that Sand Mountain was the last bit of free or low cost land in Alabama that the Federal Government made available to the public in Alabama. Can anyone confirm? Was there some other reason? Usually by the late 1850's most people were heading further west so what made Sand Mountain so attractive to the upstate SC folks at that time? I also heard there was a severe recession in Anderson around the mid-1850's as a result of much of the land being played out. Probably from growing too much cotton & tobacco. Again, these are comments that people have told me. My reference books on SC do not mention the migration of upstate residents to Sand Mountain. I have roamed through several cemeteries in Dekalb County, AL, and Marshall County, AL, and I felt like I was still in Anderson County as I looked at the names on the gravestones. Gary