Quite a number of my "birth families" settled in eastern Kentucky after migrating from western Virginia and the Carolinas. My ancestors called Greenup, Boyd, Lawrence, Floyd, Johnson, Morgan and Carter home for a few months to several years. A few families resided in several counties and never moved, as their home county broke off to for another county, them reformed again.
Interestingly enough, nearly all of my birth families end up in that eastern Kentucky region. A Virginia to western Virginia to Kentucky route was most common. Virginia to the western parts of North and South Caroliina into Kentucky was another common migation route. A few families arrived in Pennsylvania , New York or New Jersey before migrating south. All of the families eventually settled in southern Indiana.
There were a few exceptions of course. The George family moved to the coal fields of Ohio before my grandfather opted for the coal mines of Knox Co., Indiana.
The Hogues traveled from New Jersey south to Virginia, but took the Ohio River to Indiana, bypassing Kentucky settlements. The Phillippis, Evilsizers and a few other families followed a similar path to Knox Co.
The Colegroves were an exception to the rule: New York to Indiana.
Online research in these Kentucky counties is tricky. Family Search has some records available for home-based research. The fact that Kentucky [and some other states] have preserved early tax records is a blessing.
Hopefully, those eastern Kentucky counties will put more records online!
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