John Mac,
Good point. Many people fail to remember that the East coast of the what would become the
United States was pretty much a continuous forest. Since it was old growth, it was often
dense and clearing the land for planting took a lot of effort and planning. Remember no
power tools, just sweat and hard work. Then danger often lurked there with hostile
Indians, brigands and animals who had no fear of our Colonial ancestors.
Many native American tribes had ecked out some land for farming before small pox and other
European diseases devastated them. For example, The Pilgrims who came to Plymouth
benefitted from the already cleared fields and with the help of one native survived in the
new land.
Moving from one area to another was often done by foot carrying your supplies. And if they
were lucky by ox and cart for their tools and food supplies. Making 10 miles in a day by
ox cart was considered a good day and 15 fantastic! This resulted in many families making
slow incremental moves from one area to another.
The slow development of roads that tracked the wilderness encouraged others to follow for
land to farm and for the promises of a better life.
Some families can actually trace births, marriages and deaths that show such migrations.
My Carpenter (Rehoboth, MA Carpenters – represented by Group 3 of the Carpenter Cousins
Project) worked its way toward update NY then across the northern tier of the current USA
all the way to the west coast. It just took them about 300 years to do it.
Animal populations migrate also. The deer population in the northeast of the country has
adapted, expanded and changed according to changes made by man. As land was cleared, too
often first by fire, this created habitat for deer. Man often killed off the predators,
not for the deer, but for the protection of their animals and families. The deer
populations were pretty much kept in check by hunting. But life styles, increased human
populations and attitudes changed over time.
Reliable statistics on deer counts have been around for only about 150 years in the NE.
There the deer population, in general, has more than doubled. In some areas, the deer have
quadrupled their population and suffered accordingly. In winters, there have been mass
starvation die offs and diseases that have devastated local herds. Many now consider the
deer serious pests. The damage to homes, farms and vehicles cost millions of dollars each
year. Others think they are adorable, ticks, fleas, disease and regardless of the damage
they do.
Man has certainly changed the environment where they live. Our pre-Colonial ancestors
would not recognize the changes to the land with all the old growth forests gone. And
likely they would be dumb founded by changes brought by technology and current human
social behaviors.
Just imagine them seeing and using the roads, byways, highways, and freeways of today!
John R. Carpenter
La Mesa, CA USA
Carpenter Cousins Project
http://carpentercousins.com
From: John Carpenter johnmaccarpenter(a)gmail.com [CarpenterCousins]
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 5:54 PM
To: CarpenterCousins(a)yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CarpenterCousins] New York to Virginia - some general information of
migration routes
My mother's first male line ancestor, John McElhannon, came to Lancaster co PA from
northern Ireland, fought in the Revolutionary War, and later moved to GA to take up land
that the Cherokee had been removed from. He and his family walked down that road, from
Lancaster co, thru VA, the Carolinas and into NE GA. They seldom saw sunlight since the
road was mostly thru forest. As a wide open spaces West Texas the thought gave me the
creeps, but after thinking about it for a while, I figure the inbetween generations who
moved west nearly every generation and got out beyond the trees, felt extremely exposed
with no trees to hide behind
On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 1:34 PM, 'John R. Carpenter' jrcrin001(a)gmail.com
[CarpenterCousins] <CarpenterCousins(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Larry,
The quickest way from New York to Virginia, during Colonial times, was by a sailing
ship.
But there were also ships that went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later there was the
New York City to Philadelphia Post Road.
<SNIP>.
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