Migrations - Southern Appalachia USA

Appalachian
     American
          Genealogy

The grass is greener on the other side...

Migrations

American Southern Confederates to Brazil after the Civil War

Brief history
The Story of US Confederates in Brazil - The Os Confederados
Families who Entered Brazil 1865-1885 - by Betty Antunes de Oliveira
The Lost Colony of the Confederacy (Texas A & M University Military History Series, No 69) - by Eugene C. Harter
The Confederados: Old South Immigrants in Brazil - by Cyrus B. Dawsey

Generally, the migration pattern into and out of our Tri-State area of GA/NC/TN was from the East to West. They had no regard for state or county lines. They followed the same trails, roads and water routes as their prior generations. It was unusual for families to migrate or move to any new location without either already knowing someone at the new location or by traveling with their kin and friends from the old location.

Migration was prompted by the quest for land, gold or work. Major historical events such as the Irish Potato Famine, The Gold Rush, the Civil War and The Depression caused many families to move abruptly. Sometimes their movements were only temporary such as to work in mines and quarries because of failed crops. Regardless of their re-locations, many Appalachian ancestors would return for burial in their home church's graveyard.

How to Build a Road - 19th Century Primer

Carolina Conquest Trails - DeSoto's Trail thru TN, NC, SC and GA\
Map of the Great Wagon Road in NC 1750-1780
Wilderness Road And Kentucky 1774-1785
Great Philadelphia Wagon Road and Wilderness Road
U.S. Westward Migration, 1775-1860
American Migrations Website
Roads, Stagecoaches and Taverns in Western NC [e-book]
Early American Trails and Roads - by Beverly Whitaker
Descriptions of18 of the major early roads: The Boston Post Road; Braddock's Road; The California Trail; The Fall Line Road; The Federal Road; The Great Wagon Road; The King's Highway; The Mohawk (Iroquois) Trail; The Mormon Trail; The Natchez Trace; The National Road; The Oregon Trail; The Pennsylvania Road; The Santa Fe Trail; The Trail of Tears; The Upper Road; The Wilderness Road; Zane's Trace.
Migrations.org - database of submitted information about ancestors' residences over time
Georgia Trails - a description of the hiking trails in GA - don't laugh, many of them were the same trails used by Native Americans and our ancestors.
Roads & Trailways into Western NC - at OBCGS - discussion of The Wilderness Road, The Great Wagon Road, and The Great Valley Road [no maps]
Historic Trails in East TN - by D. Ray Smith
The Trail of Tears - by Randy Golden
Map of The Trail of Tears - at Welcome to North Georgia

Potter, Dorothy Williams Passports of Southeastern Pioneers, 1770-1823: Indian, Spanish and Other Land Passports for Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North and South Carolina [1982, Reprint 2007] ISBN: 9780806312729
The southern states east of the Mississippi were in a territory that was for a long time under Spanish or Indian jurisdiction. By law, only persons issued passports were allowed to enter the southeastern territories, and so the passport records have the largest body of data relating to pioneers to the Southeastern United States. The records are from the War Department, the State Department, the archives of the individual states, as well as records of the Spanish and British in West Florida. This is a complete collection of passports and travel documents issued to individuals and families going to the Mississippi Valley area from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina.

Home Page