Hi Charlie, > But it wasn't religion alone, Right! Being poor was avery common reason to be forced to leave. Also politically incorrect. Your McNitts sound like typical NE SI in their rovings. Many moved (after buying property as 'proper' citizens ) due to the religous hostility of the local puritans, or for various reasons. They didn't like living with the English Puritans (I'd have to agree with them there....). So they moved west and eventually formed towns of their own. This gave them the ability to 'vote in' a minister more to their liking as well as to form a community more like the ones they wanted to live in. Still many itinerated in a footloose fashion among the Scotch Irish towns of Western (and central) Massachusets. The Warnings Out are critical because if they did not own land it is difficult to 'find' them. They do not prove the person did leave the area -- many evaded being kicked out. Still they do prove the person was there. If the ancestor bought land, he's in the town land records. If he had children, then their births are recorded in the town. Searching for SI in NE relies heavily on aggregated databases of town records so you can find them. of course www.newenglandancestors.org is a key resource for this kinda research. > So they may have gone to Worcester to live, I live 5 miles from Worcester now. A local offered to show me where his ancestors helped tear down the meetinghouse the Presbyterians had built in the 1740s. One family was warned out of Worcester out after their dog did the doggie-thing with a hog. For this the poor Scotch Irish family was hauled before the town. The wife explained that he couldn't find a bitch (female dog) so for this the whole family was forced to leave town. This is recounted, I think, in Hanna "Scotch Irish" somewheres. Sort of illustrates when the ancestors had to deal with! WOrcester is currently one of the most dog unfriendly places I've ever known though apparently the local polizei are too busy chasing down gang murderers than enforcing town dog laws. I try not to go there often as I can't see paying sales taxes to cities that don't like dogs. >back home. They finally settled in Palmer, where they became well established >at last. Son Barnard's house is still standing. Hurray for Palmer! A real SI town, once, before it met the fate of the rest of Massachusetts: being overcome by incoming Irish, Swedish, and French Canadians in the 1800s. Linda Merle ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net