OHBROWN-L Archives

From: "macbd1" <>
Subject: [OHBROWN-L] Migration to KY-OH, Ohio River flatboats, Zane's Trace, Wilderness Trail...
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 14:35:00 -0700

Correspondents have asked from where their ancestors likely emigrated, and
via what route, to the present area of Mason Co. KY (and thence into
Adams-Brown), or directly into the present Adams-Brown Co. OH area
(pre-1810.)

>From Beers' history of Brown Co. OH:
Re: Zane's Trace: Congress passed an act authorizing Ebenezer Zane to open
a road from Wheeling (VA-WV) to a point across the Ohio River from Limestone
(now Maysville, KY) in May, 1796. During 1796-97, Zane, his brother
Jonathan and son-in-law John McIntyre, "all experienced woodsmen," marked
the trail, which was cut out by the latter two; "the cutting, however, was
very hasty work, nothing more being attempted than to make the road passable
for horsemen." ...."In 1798, the first overland mail in Ohio was carried
over this route, the mail from Wheeling meeting that from Limestone at
Zanesville." Congress granted military warrants for land in Ohio Country to
Ebenezer Zane for this work; one condition was for Zane to sustain three
ferries where his "road" crossed rivers; one each for the Muskingum,
Hockhocking and Scioto rivers.

The following is from many history sources:

Prior to development of Zane's Trace, the Ohio River (from Ft. Pitt to
Maysville), provided "the" northerly means of migration to the Mason Co., KY
area. People (including Simon Kenton) traveled overland, in the late
1700's, from VA-MD and other eastern areas to embark via flatboat at
Redstone (Brownsville, PA) -- or other "ports" along the Monongahela River
leading to Ft. Pitt and the Ohio River. Many families who were already
living in southwestern counties of PA used this means as well. Development
of a path or road further westward, from Brownsville to Wheeling (about 1790
or soon thereafter), allowed people to embark directly on the Ohio River at
Wheeling. Some people migrated into Ohio Country, west of Wheeling (Indian
activity prior to 1794 inhibited this), and later traveled via Zane's Trace
into the Mason-Adams-Brown area. Others migrated southward (from southweste
rn PA), or westward from VA-MD, into what is now northern West Virginia
prior to their "moving west." Opportunities announced in the Northwest
Ordinance of 1787 enticed many.

Another means of migration into the present Mason Co. KY area was through
the Cumberland Gap via the Wilderness Road or Trail. People who used this
route were likely prior inhabitants of southern VA or Carolina areas (since
inhabitants of central-northern VA, MD and southern PA would have likely
used Braddock's Road to Brownsville while others living further north would
have used Forbes' Road to Ft. Pitt.) Although Indians and buffalo had used
the Wilderness Trail route into the KY area, Cumberland Gap was first
"found" by a European settler in 1750 (Dr. Thomas Walker who mapped it);
however, French & Indian War activities prevented its early use. In 1775,
after the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, Daniel Boone and thirty men marked out
the Wilderness Trail from what is now Kingsport, TN through the Cumberland
Gap into central Kentucky. The route was progressively improved thereafter
and had many branches. While this early route took settlers to the general
area of present Bourbon-Clark Counties, KY, some traveled further northward
to the Ohio River settlement areas. (I do not have specific names,
development dates and history details concerning **pre-1800** paths or
extensions of the Wilderness Road to the Maysville-Washington, KY area --
rivers were also used for migrating from inner KY to the Ohio River.)

*I suspect* (from viewing lists of names) that most early settlers of the
present Mason-Adams-Brown County area, by far, used Ohio River flatboats
(and Zane's Trace after 1797-98) for migration to the area -- I know many
previously lived in southwestern PA. However, I cannot find from history
sources an "official" estimated percentage of early Mason-Adams-Brown Co.
settlers who used the Ohio River - Zane's Trace routes vs. Wilderness Road
paths. A complexity for this estimate is that Mason Co. was originally much
larger, as were Adams and Clermont Counties, the predecessors of Brown.

Perhaps Hermon Fagley, or another researcher, will venture an estimate or
add to the above.

Note: The above discussion is limited to pre-1810. Soon thereafter,
steamboat travel on the Ohio River became prevalent (first in 1811.) New
roads were being developed and prior ones improved. These allowed emigrants
from many areas to settle the present Mason-Adams-Brown area.

Neil McDonald

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• [OHBROWN-L] Migration to KY-OH, Ohio River flatboats, Zane's Trace, Wilderness Trail... by "macbd1" <>