Migration Patterns

While attending a conference a few years ago, the keynote speaker discussed the three primary migration routes into Indiana.

(1) Northern route: New England to the Connecticut Reserve in northern Ohio to Indiana.
(2) Central route: Mid-Atlantic States to Ohio to Indiana.
(3) Southern route: Southeastern States [primarily the Carolinas & Virginia] to Kentucky or Tennessee  to Indiana [or to Ohio to Indiana].

I can cover two out of three - the Central & Southern Routes.

My New England ancestors migrated to New York and New Jersey, rather than take the northern route across Ohio, before crossing into Pennsylvania and boarding flatboats for SW Ohio. After a few years in Ohio, they headed for central Indiana.