I had no intention of offending anyone on their ancestry. I was just suggesting that, If
you are having problems tracing your ancestors, who ended up in Western Virginia (not West
Virginia), that not all of these people came from the Piedmont or Tidewater of Virginia. A
large migration came down the Shenandoah Valley from Penn. Some of these families spilled
over the Blue Mtns. into Nelson, Amherst, Bedford Counties and elsewhere. If you can't
find your people by searching to the East, try the northern migration routes as an
alternative. Some people even came up from North Carolina. Broadening your search can
sometimes help.
Yes, there are families that came from New Jersey and ended up in the Shenandoah Valley,
in Tennessee, and eventually in Kentucky. One branch of my Goodwin family is a great
example: Essex County New Jersey 1700s - Chester County, Penn. 1730s - Shenandoah Valley
1750s - Nelson Co. Ky. 1780s, where they ended up living next to my branch of the family
that took a northern route through Washington Co., Pa to Nelson Co., KY.