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Archiver > Southern-Trails > 1998-01 > 0884925024


From: Susan Evans< >
Subject: Re: Migration routes
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 22:30:24 -0600


Judy Oldziewski wrote:
>
> Hope the following is of interest to someone.
>
> There was what amounted to a mass migration of people from the Wayne
> County Tennessee area to the Searcy and Van Buren County Arkansas area
> starting about 1840 and continuing for several years.

<Some things snipped for brevity>

I've noticed several migration routes in my family's travels.

One was from the area around Celina, TN (Jackson County once,
Clay County now). After the Civil War a number of families left
the area. I have identified Plumlees, Wilsons, Flatts, McCarleys
and maybe Rays and Boles who went on this migration. They went
to Christopher, Franklin County, IL. Then a number of them left
Franklin County. A few (at least one Plumlee family) went to
MO. The group that I have been able to track best went to
Johnson County, TX, to a town called Center League, which no
longer exists, and then down the road a piece to a little town
called Venus; from here they spread out. Then a number of them
went to SW OK to Washita County shortly after it opened up for
settlement.

I know that at the time of the migration to IL, one of the Flatts
who had served in the CSA killed his brother-in-law and he left
and shows up in IL. I know that a number of the people with
these surnames who stayed in TN (but I don't know if this was
universally true) had fought for the Union army.

What I would like to know was it a breaking apart of families
based on bad feelings because of the war? Was the trouble
between the Flatts and the Boles the catalyst? And why southern
IL? I need to do more research, but it is an interesting problem.

Sue

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