Horace Greeley did not need to tell us to go west. From the time our ancestors landed on our eastern shores at places such as Plymouth Rock & Jamestown there had been expansion westward. Some even entitled this westward movement Manifest Destiny -- the belief that territorial expansion of the United States was both inevitable and divinely ordained. For some reason there was a mass exodus of families from Franklin County, VA just prior to the Civil War. Much of the migration was to parts of VA that would become WV with the impending war. The populations of Boone, Fayette, Kanawha, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Raleigh and Wyoming Counties grew as a result. Franklin County researcher Otis Scott, who was the first to make me aware of the Franklin County exodus writes, "I can not begin to come up with a reason so many families moving to WV. It is sort of westward but you would expect people to move to TN or the OH Valley. Would the farming lands there been that much of an improvement over Franklin? I am familiar with those parts of WV and they are similar to Franklin as far as the lay of the land." There seems to be no singular reason, according to our little study, for why our ancestors moved from Franklin to set up housekeeping in future WV counties. What follows is my attempt at summarizing the reasons put forth by fellow researchers on the subject. Employment and the dream of a better life seemed to be the most popular responses given for migration. According to Jackie Sink Mygatt, "The stories my father tells, that were related to him by his grandpa, were that jobs were hard to come by and my ancestor went in search of same." Patty Smith says her families came to the areas that are now Tazewell, Mercer, Wyoming and McDowell Counties. She speculates, "From some of the data I have on the Cockrans, they appeared to have owned quite a bit of land in VA ... But I think the children/sons in particular moved on in hopes of free land grants & starting a new life for themselves." Ed W., another researcher, says that "farming was the main way of making a living. All of the land was in use by the parents of these people. Since it took a lot a land to make a living, the only option was to go where there was available land." June, a researcher from the Fayette County list, says some of her relatives migrated first to Monroe County and then on to Fayette County. She explains the second leg of the journey in the following manner: "We were always told that our ancestors came to Beards Fork to work at the big "ban mills," that is the saw mills ... I have some photos from the timbering days. The size of the treestumps is staggering. Three grown men could sit comfortably side-by-side on one, all facing the camera. The virgin forests our ancestors saw must have been a truly impressive sight! Needless to say, it is now difficult to find a tree more than about 150 years old in Fayette County and they are absolutely dwarfed by the trees I see in these photos." Diane Kuras talks about a different kind of employment awaiting our ancestors.  "I believe there were others from the area (Franklin County) who went to the Kanawha area, perhaps due to employment at the salt mines." There was also mention of illegal employment. Cathy, of the Wyoming County lists, talks about a professor at Clemson University who labels early Franklin County as the "moonshine capital of the world" and says that there was constant expansion of its "trade routes into backwood areas." Peter Ramsey, a Franklin County researcher, says that our relatives may not have been seeking a better life but may have instead been running from a previous one. He explains in the following way: "Some of the folks may also have moved west to escape the law. There are some cases of murder and bigamy in that list that I could relate and are perhaps others." Audrey Johnson sent an E-mail on the Perdues and Leffews in which she also mentions her grandfather, James H. Goforth. His migration does not fit our criteria since it occurred a little later & since he was coming from Wilkes County, NC instead of Franklin County, VA. However, his case still deserves consideration. From Audrey's E-mail comes the following: "My grandfather was on his way to Wyoming to homestead when he saw my grandmother out sweeping her mother's porch. He turned to his friend with whom he was traveling and said, I am not going another step further. I am going to stay right here and marry that pretty girl." James Goforth never did make it to Wyoming County. He married Nancy Catherine Perdue & they lived in Brushfork, just outside of Bluefield in Mercer County. Seems love is a migration factor we also need to consider. I received between 75-100 responses to my Franklin County migration query. I'd like to thank the following people for their contributions and help in compiling the list: Sandy Spradling Kathy Thomas Regina Gray Sherry Drew Sharon Phillips Belenski Brenda Chatterton June (settleciocca@earthlink.net) Jack Spangler Jim Hartman Rhonda Palmer Peter Ramsey Wayne Witt Bates tsadams@alltel.net French Campbell Deirdre Mercer Almeda Lappin Patty Smith Diane Kuras Carrol Hurley Ullrich Angela Griffin Joyce York Lisa Rider Shindlebower Audrey Johnson Cathy (CATEACHSC@aol.com) Nancy Acord-Greathouse Nan Mykel Ed W. (blb00991@mail.wvnet.edu) Tom Dillion Sam Cook Doris Slaughter Brock Robertson Mercedes Murphy Rickie Bennett Longfellow Sonny Griffith Otis Scott Anita Rose Schmidt Libbie Griffin Marsha Moses Colleen Simmons Joann Giddinge Nancy Frederick Gracie Stover Anita (Awpaxwv@aol.com) W. Darrell Miller Sue Huffman Jean Abshire Marie Martin Carlisle Bowling Richard Wilstead Jackie Sink Mygatt Yvonne Booz Gary Griffith Nyla Creed Patte Wood The final list of families that migrated from Franklin County contains some 80 surnames. The alphabetical listing is as follows: Abshire Adams Adkins Angel/Angle Bailey Bates Beckelhimer Belcher Bell Blankenship Bowles Bradshaw Brogan Brown Campbell Clark Clay Cockran Cook Cooper Cox Craddock Darby Dearien Dent Dickerson Dillon Feazell Ferguson Gadd Goode Gray Griffith Hale Hatcher Huff Hurt James Keys Kidd Kingrey Lamb Leffew Lilly Maxey Maynor McCormack/McCormick McVey Meador/Meadows Newberry Perdue Peters (2 lines) Phillips Proffit Radford Rausch/Rouse Richards Robinson/Robertson Saunders Scott Shrewsbury Sigmon Sink Smith Snead Spangler Stanley Stephens/Stevens Stover Sweeney Tench Thomas Trail Underwood Via Wade Warden Wingo Worley Young This summary, list of contributors & list of migrating families can also be found at the following URL: http://www.geocities.com/ncreed1/Migration.html Thanks for listening and as my Grandma Coleman used to say, "Ya'll come!" Sincerely, Mike Peters npeters102@aol.com