My gggg-grandfather, Ignatius [Nace?] RUSSELL, b1779 SC, was a line carrier with a survey team that went into AL/MS at the turn of the 19th century which was, of course, GA at the time. His daughter Mary Ann Russell McGEE born 1803 always insisted that she was born in AL to every census taker. Ah, but where I would like to know. Georgia was bursting at the seams with pioneers who wanted to get across the Oconee River[near Milledgeville, Baldwin Co.; Putnam Co, Hancock Co, Clarke Co, Warren Co, etc]. Main indian trails followed the ridges and river and became the Federal Road. In 1795 the scandal of the Yazoo Land Fraud started. It took 20 years before the Supreme Court finalized the mess, but Yazoo lands were of early interest to everyone in the newly founded country. Nace RUSSELL married Eleanor KIMBROUGH. Her family was one of the first Revolutionary families in the state and built forts to protect the settlers from indians, and the KIMBROUGHs and REESES supported Elijah Clarke in his unsuccessful attempt, short-lived thanks to the Feds, to create the first break-off Republic [yes, even before Goliad & TX]. They were land hunters and speculators all, and before the turn of the 18th century were thinking that the Feds were going too slow in letting the settlers cross the Oconee for literal greener pastures [in the immediate case, Putnam County, home to be of Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus]. This is the connection I can make as to WHY Nace Russell went into MS territory, but WHERE is what I would like to find out. They ended up back in GA, Butts Co for 1830 census, and he is buried in Troupe Co. GA, 1857 on the AL stateline. The rest of the families down the line , by then REESE and WYLIE, kept moving west as land opened up [and the indians had to leave] in GA and AL. The biggest migration came after the War Between the States, during Reconstruction when they moved to East TX: Navarro, Limestone and Mexia Counties. I would like to know: what was the attraction? Was it that Reconstruction was less harsh in TX? LaGrange, Troupe Co, GA survived the war itself pretty much intact. Lowndes Co, AL [smack between Montgomery and Selma] faired less well because it was Gen. Braxton Bragg's home county. I understand the Yankees were pretty retaliatory against it [my own theory as to why that AL Black Belt [called that for its earth went for Jim Crow in such a big way once they were allowed to vote again @1895, I think.] As an aside, the WYLIEs from Lowndes Co., AL opened a bank in Oakwood, TX and it is one of the only family owned banks still left in the country. Oscar WYLIE was my gg-grandfather; it was his son [an uncle] who opened the bank. Oscar Wylie was a justice of the peace in Groesbeck. I cannot for the life of me imagine how they had so much money after the war [buried the silver with the dead?] to even get to TX, especially if they were having their GA/AL land confiscated by carpetbaggers and scalawags; this included the REESES in Navarro Co, but Wm. Lewis Reese was a doctor so would always have a way to survive. To sum up: Where would the English/Scotch-Irish Americans go in early AL/MS besides Natches? Was TX so much better off after the war that it warrented such mass movement? Any comments or additions, anyone? Tory Braden, St. Simons, GA _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com