Amen. And by the way, anyone joining the army during the retreat is definitely my kind of guy. >We only go south of PGH to go to the airport. Amen, part deux. My dad, who still lives on our family farm in the Allegheny Valley, is convinced that I've moved to the back side of the moon because I moved all the way to Beaver County - ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AIRPORT!! I think he believes I was closer when I lived in Florida. Another observation on W PA geography is that our rivers always have - and continue to - screw up travel patterns. Not to pick on Linda, but I will since she, like many in this area, apparently believes that the airport is located south of Pittsburgh. This is partially because you cross over the Mon or the Ohio River to get there, which in most people's minds puts you south of the city. However any map will show that the airport is WEST of Pittsburgh and actually NORTHWEST of the downtown area. What the hell does this have to do with genealogy, you ask? Good question. What you end up with in western PA is a migration pattern that started in the south (hence the oft-referenced VA connection) and followed the north-flowing Monongahela (we call it the Mon) to the 'Forks of the Ohio' at Ft. Pitt (Pittsburgh). From there people went north along the Ohio for a ways before it loops back to the south and into what is now WV and OH. There were also a large number of early settlers who cut across the Mon and settled in what is now Washington County and the southern part of Beaver County, PA, south of the Ohio River. They rarely crossed the Ohio, though, because that was Indian territory until Fallen Timbers in 1794. An interesting anomaly of all this is that I live near one of the oldest non-family cemeteries in western PA (Mill Creek Presbyterian Church cemetery which dates to at least 1787), but the area where my (and Linda's) ancestors settled wasn't really populated until five or ten years later - even though it is a good 40 miles further EAST and therefore closer to the migration routes. Why? Because the Mon and the Ohio could easily carry settlers downstream to where I live, but the Allegheny flows the wrong way (for them). Anyone wanting to settle along the Allegheny north and east of Pittsburgh had to either fight the current or struggle across the hilly and largely roadless landscape to get there. Even parts of WV and OH - e.g., Wheeling and Zanesville - were settled (almost exclusively by S-I and Germans) decades before the upper Allegheny Valley. FWIW, Rob -----Original Message----- From: Linda Merle [mailto:merle@mail.fea.net] Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 11:09 AM To: Scotch-Irish-L@rootsweb.com; Rob Hilliard Subject: RE: [Sc-Ir] Subject: History Alert Hi Rob, well my best knowledge agrees with yours - that GW recruited locally (to him). However given that we didn't know the boundaries of PA, MD, and VA in those days, and given that I have found a few guys in PA who served in VA troups, and given that nothing is rock solid, I thought I had better not say our PA SI ancestors "Didn't even serve" with GW. No one can make that statement as we don't have all the records. Plus as soon as I'd make such a statement, someone on the list would pipe up with their exception! I am sure they exist as no one thinks "oops, I donno if I am living in PA or MD or VA but because I am clairvoyant and I know that in 20 years they will decide this is PA, I can't go on the only interesting thing to happen here in my lifetime". Only a clairvoyant ancestor, living in the wrong place by 5 miles or so, could decide correctly. I did find one man who I believe lived in Berkeley Co, a McCormick (fer those who know "Dr. John", the early Scotch Irish settler in Fredericksburg area) who apparently joined up on the retreat (I think it was near Willis Ft). I think this man is Dr. John's son. He wasn't from the Williamsburg area. In reading the records, you do find men joining and then desserting on the way -- both ways. Some of the daily reports survive and it's there I found this man of interst. Though PA men were not fond of the Virginians, the border was not known and family alliances existed up the wahhhzooo between PA and MD and VA. I've found a number of PAers who married PA women in MD. We make too much of borders. He coulda been by the name the son of a man living near Chambersburg, but ..... I think Dr. John's family is more likely the source as they are Virginieees. However my theory on why my family rarely ever move south from the Allegheny Valley or even visit is them southernish parts in the Mon Valley are full of Virginians <grin>!!! We only go south of PGH to go to the airport. Linda Merle