Thanks Gil, I never connected the Homestead Act to this question, but it makes a lot of sense now. I don't know when it was enacted, but maybe someone on the list does. Anyone out there know the date of the Homestead Act? Thanks again, Debbie At 12:34 PM 11/13/97 +0000, you wrote: >Reason for migration? Land! Cheap land. The reason they went to >Missouri... Geography, once they were through the passes they followed >valleys. The major trails and river boats went that way. As the >migration of the 1780s filled up the Carolinas best and Kentucky and >Tennessee were next, Look at the map, The Ohio leads out there. >There also was a group of laws encouraging westward settlement. >Free/cheap land was a huge motivation. Remember land ownership in >Europe was for the noblemen. In the early nineteenth century wagon >trains were commonly shipped along the Ohio westward. When was the > >Homestead Act passed? > >Several of my lines settled in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri in >the early nineteenth century. > >I think the answer is trifold: Cheap land, passes, and rivers. > >Happy hunting, > >Gil > > >> This has been a puzzle to me, and possibly it is something I should have >> known about but I don't. Does anyone know why so many of our NC-SC ancestors >> decided to migrate to Missouri? What was the route they took? I have many in >> my family who went, but no real concrete idea why. Have found bits and >> pieces about the economy changing, large families with no avaiable land, >> etc. If anyone has any family stories or history on this, I would really be >> interested in knowing. >> Thanks >> Debbie >> >> >