What an interesting discussion! I have often wondered why the ancestors moved to new places which were often full of dangers. I'm currently working on a group of families who were in Barren County, and moved to central Missouri. They were related by marriage and by birth. Some when on to the Western States, but most lived and died in the area where they first settled. Most of these particular families originated in Virginia. And I have a question, did many of them move because of military land warrants, and thus begin the rush to the frontier, or was it simply an urge to look for another greener pasture? Betty

Federal Land Patents were made available in many of these areas in the early to mid 1800s. I have several relatives who bought many pieces of land in the areas where they decided to settle. Many bought six or more plots and I have two that bought more than 9 plots in MO over the space of a few years. Consider that after two, three or more generations of very large families growing up in KY and TN and the influx of even more people from the east, fertile land of any size came at a premium. When the federal government began offering land at such cheap prices, it was not hard to decide that one's opportunity to improve the fortunes of one's family lay somewhere else besides these heavily settled states. My relatives moved to counties around St Louis and Kansas City and to the Benton/Hickory/Polk/St Clair county west central MO area. Brec Morton