John, I'm sure there are many families from Bedford that traveled the routes you were describing and there just has to be many family historians out there (probably novices, like myself) that are not aware of it yet. I recently "discovered" a small section of the Bedford Gross family who went on to Breckinridge County, Kentucky. There's a great book, "Payne and Associated Families of Breckinridge Co., Ky" by Norman L. Payne which includes Bedford and Franklin Counties and many families that traveled on to Kentucky. No actual routes of migration travelled as far as I can tell right now, but I can give you approximate dates as to when they show up there. Abraham Gross shows up on a deed in March of 1817 in Breckinridge. It looks as if he took some of the family with him but for those who stayed behind, I can now see and understand the family connections, knowing all of this. It's also helping me with leads as to where they may have originally come from because most of these family ties did not just happen once they arrived in Bedford. You mentioned the name PATE and the book says the first known person to move there was Benjamin Allen Pate. What I found most interesting was the observation made between the phone books of Breckinridge and Bedford counties and how they look the same, even today. I think it would be very helpful to so many people if you post as much as you can to the Bedford list as you learn more about this interesting subject. Julie Smith (Researching: Bays, Bohn, Bowyer, Carter, Daugherty, Graham, GROSS, Martin, Minor, Rice, Stanley, Tuck in Bedford Co., Va)