Carole~ You'll find two factors played important roles in SDBs' migration west. One was the availablility of cheap land in the Midwest offered by the U.S. Government in the mid-Nineteenth Century (the West as they called it then), and the other was religious bias (or some insist "persecution") of those that celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday. Originally called "Blue Laws" (laws thought to have been written on blue paper), they originated in 17th Century New England, which prohibited a variety of activites on Sunday, rendering those that observed the Sabbath on Saturday unable to conduct business for a full two days per week, putting them at great disadvantage. Research these two topics and you'll find why so many went west, and why they tended to congregate. There was much religious prejudice in 19th century America. Oddly, about three-fourths of the States have some Blue Laws still on their books. Tangentially, Blue Laws likely played an important role influencing the Framers of the Constitution, as they made attempts to halt the religious persecution that went on for 100 years prior to that historic event. Regards, Michael Burdick <--------------------------------------------> -Webmaster for the New York State Biographies Project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nybiog/ -Webmaster for the Sauk Co. Wisconsin American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP) http://www.rootsweb.com/~wisauk2/ -Webmaster for the Sauk Co. Wisconsin Biographies Project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiscbio/ -Webmaster for the Richland Co. Wisconsin Biographies Project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiricbio/ -Webmaster for the Door County Wisconsin American History and Genealogy Project (AHGP) (site under construction) at http://www.rootsweb.com/~widoor/ -Moderator for the Rootsweb Burdick Seventh Day Baptist mailing list: BURDICK-SDB-L@rootsweb.com -Moderator for the Rootsweb Concannon mailing list: CONCANNON-L@rootsweb.com -Administrator of the Rootsweb Burdick Message Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.burdick -Administrator of the Rootsweb Hoxie Message Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.hoxie -Administrator of the Rootsweb Balek Message Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.balek -Administrator of the Rootsweb Elwood Message Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.elwood -Administrator of the Rootsweb Hoxsie Message Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.hoxsie -Administrator of the Rootsweb Concannon Message Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.concannon Burdick Family Genealogy http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=mtb090953&I11.x=23&I11.y=3 key in: mtb090956