Montgomery County KYGenWeb

Kentucky Migration

Where Did They Come From?

While nearly every early settler in Montgomery County came from the stations and forts just to the west, particularly Ft. Boonesborough and Strodes, these settlers had migrated to Kentucky only a few years earlier from elsewhere.

Harry G. Enoch in his Deposition Book published in 2005, did an interesting analysis of the earliest Clark County landowners. We can use draw some conclusions from his work, because Montgomery was formed from Clark, and Bath was formed from Montgomery.

Enoch's data shows 85% came from Virginia, 7% from North Carolina, 6% from Pennsylvania/Maryland and 2% from Delaware/New Jersey. Interestingly, 35% of those from Virginia came from the counties in the upper northeast corner; Fauquier, Fairfax, Stafford, Prince William and Loudoun. That area is regionally referred to as the Northern Neck and is the farthest away from Kentucky.

Virginia was unable to pay Revolutionary War soldiers for their service and instead granted them land in Kentucky, their western most territory. As a result, we would expect the majority of early settlers to come from Virginia. But why from the farthest corner of Virginia?

Virginia's persecution of Baptists may partially answer that question, because we find many of those who came from that corner of Virginia were devote Baptists.

Even before seeing Mr. Enoch's research, I had done some of my own research on the neighbors and associates of my ancestor John Allen, an elder in the Lulbegrud Baptist church. This church was organized in 1793 a few miles southwest of Mt. Sterling. My research bears a clear resemblance to Enoch's analysis.

Of John Allen's 45 associates I was able to trace to an earlier county, 31 came from Virginia, 11 came from Pennsylvania/Maryland and 3 came from North Carolina. Of those 31 from Virginia, 17 came from that same upper northeast corner of Virginia, with many being associated with the Chopawamsic and Broad Run Baptist churches.

Settlers headed to Kentucky from western Pennsylvania, Maryland and what is now West Virginia would have floated down the Ohio River, while those from Virginia would have found their way to the Great Wagon Road and crossed over into Kentucky at either Cumberland Gap or Pound Gap. Settlers from North Carolina may have followed Boone's trace from the Yadkin. Some may have even traveled with Boone on one of his trips.

Where Did They Go?

FamilySearch has an interesting page titled Kentucky Emigration and Immigration. Their analysis shows that native born Kentuckians alive in 1860 were most prevalent in Missouri (99,814), Indiana (68,588) and Illinois (60,193). So many settlers had moved to what was then considered the "West" that Kentucky was called "Mother of Western States".

A global search in Rootsweb's World Connect projects shows 1,301 entries for people born in Montgomery County, KY who died in Missouri, 856 who died in Indiana and 657 who died in Illinois.

What caused this movement? By the early 1800s, Kentucky was on the edge of the wilderness. New states were being formed to the immediate west, Native Americans were being pushed out and the new land was affordable.

As children came of age, they found land in Kentucky was priced out of their reach, just as their forefathers had found earlier in Virginia and elsewhere to the east.

Indiana achieved statehood in 1819, Illinois in 1818 and Missouri in 1821, but settlers had already started moving into these territories. Daniel Boone was among the first to leave Kentucky and moved to Missouri in 1799. The Ohio River was a natural highway for settlers leaving Kentucky headed west to these states.

Many veterans of the War of 1812 came west of the Mississippi River [to Missouri] only because that was where the free bounty land for veterans was located.

Even established families with children were lured by the stories of fertile, virgin farmland in the new plains states. Here are a few from my family records.

Abraham and Hannah (Allen) Downs moved to Edgar Co., IL in 1829

Martin and Keturah (Fletcher) White Moved to Christian Co., IL in 1830

Griffin and Ethel (Shortridge) Treadway moved to LaPorte Co., IN in 1834

John and Elizabeth (Griffin) Treadway moved to Bartholomew Co., IN in 1835

John and Georgeann (Botts) Allen moved to Hancock Co., IL in 1838.

James and Margaret (Lykins) Ferguson moved to Saline Co., MO c.1840

Marvin Allen 2016