Things surely have been slow on this maillist! For a while, messages came so frequently that they collected overnight into quite a heap! To get things going again, let me encourage everyone who has any information about WAGON TRAINS going from the East Coast to the South or West to post a message, giving 1) the surnames of the families you think moved together in the train. Also, include 2) an approximate date if possible. And, of course, 3) the route the WAGON TRAIN followed, if you know it. Pooling our information about WAGON TRAINS might help us all. I'll begin by mentioning a WAGON TRAIN that left Carteret County, NC and traveled in sixty days to Marengo County, AL in 1823. The story goes like this: Joseph Nelson, born 1773, the son of William and Elizabeth Nelson, accompanied by Caleb Dana, sailed from Hunting Quarters (now Atlantic, NC) in Carteret County, NC, to Mobile Bay, Alabama and surveyed Marengo and Baldwin Counties, prior to 1820. Apparently Joseph so liked the new area that thoughts of moving there entered his mind. By this point in time Hunting Quarters had changed considerably. Present day Sea Level, then a part of Hunting Quarters, had been held by family Nelsons, Hamiltons, and Wallaces. The families multiplied and brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins had married and brought in new people. Joseph's father, William, had been selling off his 395 1/2 acres inherited from his father, James. So, what had been a 791-acre plantation at the beginning of Joseph's life began changing to a group of smaller farms. From a population of about 40 in 1790, the area grew to a population of about 150 in 1820. In Joseph's eyes, it was getting crowded. Others from Carteret County felt the same as did Joseph. So, in 1823 they organized a wagon train and left Carteret County for Alabama. Originally they settled in Marengo County, AL, but eventually they settled in Baldwin County, AL. The descendants of these travelers have some family memories of the trek. Oxen pulled the wagons which carried all their belongings and each person walked as much as they were able, some making the journey on foot. Naturally some married along the way, bringing other surnames into the group and there were children born along the way. Those families known to have been on the WAGON TRAIN are: WALLACE, NELSON, BISHOP, FULFORD, ROBINSON, STRONG, STIRON (or Styron). They were from Portsmouth, Ocracoke, and Hunting Quarters, North Carolina. Those individuals known to have been on the WAGON TRAIN were: William Fulford, Clifford Fulford and his wife Alice of Portsmouth and their daughters Abigail, born 1806, and Eliza J. Joseph Nelson, Sr., and his wife Abigail Stiron, born 1778, the daughter of Samuel Stiron and Hannah Hamilton Hill of Portsmouth, and their children; Thomas Nelson, born 1795, married in NC in 1815 to Katurah Hall, born 1797, the daughter of Simon and Phebe Hall of Portsmouth, Abisha Nelson, born 1795, married in NC in 1819 to Elizabeth Bishop, Lovey Nelson, born 1797, married in 1823 (during trip in Perry County, AL) to Metzger A Litchfield, Samuel Nelson, born 1800, married in Alabama in 1851 to Nancy Fulford, Elisha Nelson, born 1804, married in Alabama in 1830 to Eliza J. Fulford, daughter of Clifford and Alice Fulford of NC, Amosa Nelson, born 1806, married in 1832 in Alabama to Stephen J. Robinson. Kathryn