Our
peripheral knowledge of the history of early pioneers in the United States
had its genesis with the influx of the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch,
Swedes and the British explorers. They acquired foothold(s) in the Vast
territory east of the Mississippi River
through bitter battles, deception, and rogue treaties with the American Indians
(1, 2). These foreigners not only took advantage of the Indians, they were
constantly bickering and fighting among themselves over the claims of these new
territories.
Since the earliest days of the Lost
Colony of Roanoke Island off the Coast of North Carolina in the late 1500's,
the Jamestown Settlement by the British in the Tidewater Virginia area in 1607,
and the Plymouth Colony Settlement of Massachusetts in 1620 to the present day,
every region and time period has identified certain trends in the migration
patterns of its population (3,4). West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois,
Indiana, Wisconsin and, even a part of Minnesota
were all a part of the original Virginia
Territory. An expanded
and more detailed narrative of the social-economic factors that precipitated
the westward movements and migrations is presented elsewhere (4,7).
The Quakers, being one of the first
large groups of immigrants to arrive in the mid-1600's, settled the areas
around Philadelphia, PA and Newcastle, DE - those being the principle ports of
entry (4). Also during this mid-century, the Germans, being the second big
wave, settled the more fertile land farther west - around Berks, Lancaster, and
York Counties in PA. Later, in the early 1700's, the Ulster-Irish, better known
as the Scot-Irish, settled the less-fertile land in the Cumberland
and Tennessee Valleys (4-7).
Regardless of where the new
immigrants arrived in the New World, it wasn't
long until they had the burning desire to move westward. The early settlers in
North Carolina and Virginia, who moved into Kentucky and Ohio, generally took
one of three major routes: the northern route along the Ohio River, the
southern route through the Wilderness Gap and its many tributary branches into
the eastern and central regions of Kentucky, or though Pound Gap. All three
points of entry into the Kentucky
wilderness were also important stops on already existing trails that had been
used both by local wildlife and Native Americans. In large part, the
establishment of important pioneer stations and forts took place along these
pre-existing trails (5-7).
The Cumberland Gap was critical in
the settlement of the West because it was the only natural route through the Appalachian Mountains (6, 7). As a result, the Wilderness
Trail continued to be an important route for settlers moving west until the
Civil War. Of the approximately 400,000 pioneers who traveled west before 1800,
it is estimated that three quarters of them used the Cumberland
Gap route (5-7). And while those settlers originated from as far
north as Pennsylvania, the majority came from Virginia and North
Carolina (3,4-7). This simplified overview of the
migration patterns of early settlers may have been the same routes taken by the
families who are presented in this book.
