Did your ancestors migrate out of Pennsylvania to Virgina, the Carolinas, Georgia..?

Question

Pre-Revolutionary Migration from Pennsylvania to Southern Colonies and elsewhere.

Sharing Article of interest  - Highly Recommend:

Pennsylvania as an Early Distributing Center of Population Author(s): Wayland Fuller Dunaway 

Source: The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , 1931, Vol. 55, No. 2 (1931), pp. 134-169 Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20086765

This detailed, scholarly article discusses movement of pre-revolutionary Pennsylvanians including those of German and Scots-Irish Heritage; Quakers, English and Welch; as well as others out of Pennsylvania to Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennesee.

What were the pressures / incentives to move according to Dunaway? By 1730 westward movement of the Pennsylvania population had reached the Alleghenies. The path of least resistance was south into the valleys of Maryland and Virginia, and the Piedmont region of Carolina. Dunaway writes that those upland areas of the South had not yet been reached by settlement advancing west from tidewater --- vacant lands invited occupancy. For example Dunaway writes that in 1732 the cost of land in Maryland was 1/3 the cost of land in Pennsylvania. He names counties and provides extensive references about migration paths.

I was able to read, but not download, this article for free on the JSTOR link above on 17 Mar 2024 after free registration. I had not previously been aware of the extent of migration from Pennsylvania to the South. This provides a different context for me. I hope it is helpful to others.

My takeaway is to look for and don't discount possible Pennsylvania connections when researching early possible ancestors in the Southern Colonies. This may help us with the Atkinson Projects as we seek information about Atkinson lines with early roots in Virginia and other southern colonies.

#migration #Atkinson #Quakers #Virgina #name_studies

Comments

Here is a link to the full article without having to go through JSTOR:

https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/view/28222/27978

You can also download it too.

Answer 1

Thank you for this. I have found that my Scot-Irish ancestors migrated from Pennsylvania to the NC piedmont. My husband’s German Moravian ancestors migrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio, then to the Boone and Lenoir areas in the NC mountains. Only in the last 2 generations did they move into the Piedmont of NC. I also recently read a book titled “American Nations” describing this migration south and the different “nations” that make up America. I would recommend it as good read to understand why and who our ancestors were and their motivations for migrating to America.

Comments

Looks interesting! Thanks for the recommendation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Nations

Answer 2

Thanks for that article! Travel to the south at the time was generally along the Great Wagon Road. See https://www.wikitree.com/photo/jpg/Great_Wagon_Road - a map of the Great Wagon Road, 1720-1763 - and [this section] of https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Great_Wagon_Road_Points_and_Parts

From that space page:

In 1751, the Great Wagon Road ran 455 miles, from Philadelphia to North Carolina's Yadkin River.^[7] The extension of the trail to Augusta, Georgia on the Savannah River put it at "a distance of more than 800 miles (1,300 km) from Philadelphia." See Wikipedia's article on the Great Wagon Road for details.^[3] See also the selection of maps of the Great Wagon Road below.

links go to the space page

Comments

Surprisingly, only three North Carolina counties have a Yadkin River flow: Caldwell County, Watauga County, and Yadkin County.

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That map is cool, although I have trouble recognizing the area, not being from there. Are there a few landmarks? My Quaker Janney Family settled at Goose Creek, Loudon County. Is that what I'm seeing there? (I imagine there are lots of Goose Creeks. There is an existing Janney home today west of Leesburg.

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[The Maps section] of https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Great_Wagon_Road_Points_and_Parts has links to a selection of maps - including Google Maps.

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and I just went through those links & didn't find one that I thought was there. You're looking for the branch of the GWR that crossed the Potomac at Noland's Ferry. It's an offshoot of the Monocacy Road, which crosses at Harper's Ferry. (I could've sworn I had added a map with that route, but it eludes me now.)

Anyway, from the Parts & Pieces page: An offshoot of the Monocacy Road crossed at Noland's Ferry.^[26]

The footnote: C&O Canal Trust: Nolands Ferry (accessed 18 August 2023).

The Nolands Ferry link has a Google map, but it doesn't show counties/cities and doesn't label the lesser waterways.

I know I have a map somewhere that does. When I find it, I'll post another reply! found what I was remembering - at Loudoun History website. I posted a separate reply.

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https://www.loudounhistory.org/media/map-carolina-rd-sm.jpg shows Noland's Ferry & Leesburg. It shows Rt. 7, James Monroe Highway, and Luckett Road, but no water landmarks. It's from the Loudoun History site's Carolina Road page: https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/carolina-road/ (the Noland's Ferry offshoot of the Monocacy Road was sometimes called the Carolina Road).

That site also has a Goose Creek Canal page, which also has a map:

• https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/goose-creek-canal/
• https://www.loudounhistory.org/media/goose-creek-canal.jpg

THAT map (the .jpg link) shows the Carolina Road continuing through Leesburg and across Goose Creek.

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Thank you to EVERYONE for all these wonderful tips, reads, cool links, and the original post!! I’m looking very much forward to reading each of them! I’ve always wondered why exactly my family came to the South. I know some were given land grants after the Revolutionary War also in the  Yadkin River Valley​​​​​, but other than a few like that, I’ve not known how or why my ancestors came south, other than to presume they saw a future in farming. If I’ve ever heard of “The Great Wagon Trail”, it was long ago in my school days, so I’m grateful to know of its existence now. Some of my paternal line were at Plymouth. Some, I presume may have been in PA or MA, to settle in VA, then NC, and my specific line briefly ventured into AL before coming to GA. My maternal line was given land in the Yadkin Valley, then into SC, and ultimately settling here in GA. It amazes me how much they all had to have gone through, how much God’s hand guided them, to ultimately get us all to this point. 

Thanks again, y’all! May God bless you all and your families! 

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I learned SO MUCH pulling together that page on the Great Wagon Road. It's amazing how much history I've learned since joining WikiTree - not to mention the added benefit of having lots of help knocking down brick walls!

Answer 3

Yes, Quakers Daniel Boone, and some older Webb cousins went south, then west together.

Comments

Hi Robert, we are 8C 1R  through the Willets family from Long Island, New York.

In the town of Carle Place on Long Island, there is a road named after one of the Willets men. It’s,  I.U.Willets Road.

Susan

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Howdy cuz

Answer 4

Sounds a lot of Appalachia to me where many from Pennsylvania moved to.  Many also had to go through Kentucky to get West.

Answer 5

Yes, I have a broken/dubious link, but my Dosters (Germans from Mecklenburg), likely made it from PA to VA, then to western NC and Ga.

Answer 6

I have several ancesters that came to American from Germany in the early 1700's and settled in Pennsylvania for many years and then began to migrate to North Carolina mountains 1730"s and then on down into South Carolina .  I have several articles as well as family lore about these migrations.

Answer 7

Yes, I have seen that in my own family. The Scots-Irish Hagan/Hagen/Hagin families followed that pattern. My grandfather Hagin was born in Tampa, Fl. 

I have lots of ancestors who ended up in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas  

Answer 8

My German ancestors went to Pennsylvania and then migrated to Nebraska.  I have many relatives still living in Custer County, where my grandmother was born.

Answer 9

Yes, a number of my ancestors followed this path of migration along the The Great Wagon Road, from Pennsylvania to Virginia.

Answer 10

Regarding :  "I was able to read, but not download, this article for free on the JSTOR"

The full 36 page article (pdf) can be downloaded from this address

https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/issue/view/1843

Thank you for making us aware of the article.

Answer 11

My Hollingsworth ancestors, who were  Quakers. had settled in Delaware, migrated south into Virginia. North and South Carolina and Georgia

Answer 12

This is the exact route that my Mennonite, English, and Welsh ancestors took. It is the reason that I HAVE ancestors from all three places, because mixing took place on the frontier. The land was offered at cheap prices to encourage settlement as a buffer to French and Indian incursions across the Blue Ridge. It worked, though some of my ancestors died as a part of that buffer.

Later, my branch of the families went to Ohio where cheap land opened up due to Jackson's Indian Removal Act. The sons later moved west to Western Iowa.

 Some of the families stayed in Virginia and some went on to Tennessee. We were mostly a restless bunch, it seems.

Answer 13

I have only one non-German ancestor from the area, Michael Wilson, my brick wall. He lived and died in the Bachman Valley (was Frederick/Baltimore county, now Carroll County) in Maryland and appeared to have no relatives other than a brother/cousin nearby. Through DNA matches I've discovered his cousins all moved south, to Virginia and then Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and also west. It was strange because all my German ancestors stayed put - their descendants are mostly still in Maryland and York County PA.

Answer 14

Interesting thread! My Janney line came 1638 to Eastern Pennsylvania and some stayed. 2 moved south into Loudon County VA and were quite prolific. However my line moved west to Clinton County OH later- before the Civil War. I have thought it might have been because of the Quaker stance against slavery, as some took an active role as Underground Railway stations. When they chose to fight they were Union. Ohio Quakers were a tight bunch!

2 orphaned Janney boys were sent west to join Wood family in-laws in Iowa who still were professing Quakers. One of those was my 2nd Ggrandfather who made the leap to California!

Answer 15

I thought all my ancestors were from Virginia or North Carolina. Imagine my surprise that some started in Philly then took the Wagon Road south before the American Revolution. I am looking forward to reading the article. Thanks for the heads up!