At 02:16 PM 8/12/99 -0500, you wrote: >This has probably been discussed before but can we discuss it again? My >(Fitzgerald?) Gerelds/Gerald/Jerrells (there are 40+ various spellings >even in the same families) ancestor stated in the 1850 Lincoln County, >TN census he was 38 yrs. old (b abt 1812 in Vermont). He was in Lincoln >County in 1842, married in January that year. He volunteered to serve >in the War with Mexico and returned to Lincoln County. > >There are several Gerald/Geralds in New England who moved on and I have >been told Tennessee was an unusual travel route. So, from Vermont to >Lincoln County, TN (and probably on to Alabama and Texas), what makes >this route unusual and what areas do you suppose he traveled? Many >thanks. Betty it really is not that unusual.....just that if he was born 1812 in Vermont, it is a bit later than normal. What happened, after Rev War, many soldiers were given land - one of the places this free land was located was NORTH CAROLINA - in what would become Tennessee. So in 1790s you see all kinds of people from CT, NY, Md coming into Davidson Co NC (which would become Davidson Co Tn) and a bit later some of it would be Sumner or Tennessee County NC - later Sumner Co Tn, and other counties in Tn. (think Tennessee Co NC was given different name). Anyway, either his father was a soldier in the Rev War and got land, or what often happened.....a soldier who did not want to take up his land sold it. A lot of them did that. The land speculators and lawyers flocked to the area of Knoxville, and Nashville during that time. The area had a huge spurt of growth because of the new people coming in to take up the free land. The first settlers to Nashville were in the Cumberland Group in June 1780. So they were preemptors. Others as soon as the war was over came there, before the new government got around to giving out land to soldiers. So these people had claim to their land, but some of the speculators sold part of their land to people living in other places. Thus a lot of dispute over land. Some people who bought their land - say in Maryland - and made the trip to take up their land, on arrival would find someone else living there with a claim to it. or two new settlers would arrive and find they had both been sold the same land. So many people either moved on, fought, or purchased more land. As I have said before, seems everyone was flocking to this area. Then after the War of 1812 which ended early Jan 1815 for these people with the Battle of New Orleans, people were on the move again. lots of them 1815-1818 went into Alabama. one main route, was get on the Tennessee river and take that into Al. many of the Al people would later move on to Texas. 1830-1840 lot of movement to Texas with them usually using the rivers - some would take rivers to north-east corner of Arkansas, or to central AR, then take overland route to Texas. Wonder why Andrew Jackson got elected President? He was the voice of these people living in that area, and there were so many of them wanting more free land - Indian land. Also Knoxville and Nashville at that time were really on all the major migration trails for the south - both land and water. mary