Download They Went West… and North… and South!

They Went West…
and North…
and South!
Migration Out of New England
By the time of the 1850 census, nearly half of all heads of household lived in states not adjacent to their
states of birth. By 1860, nearly half of all living New Englanders had migrated. Who heard the call of the
unknown? Why did they leave? How did they get there?
Throughout the Revolution, soldiers carried stories of new lands back to their families. In 1781,
movement out of the populated areas to the frontier began, picking up momentum with each decade. The
greatest migrations were to Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. Although most migration was from east to
west, some settlers went south. Often, an individual or small group went ahead to select a tract. Most settlers
moved with family groups or emigrant associations. Once settled, they often encouraged those back home
to join them on the frontier, known as “chain migration.” Following Indian trails, post roads, rivers, and
mountains, they followed the lure of the land as the frontier moved steadily westward.
Character and Customs of New Englanders
It has been said that anytime a Congregational church is found west of New England, Yankee roots lie
beneath. New Englanders carried other characteristics and customs with them.
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Known for thrift and enterprise
Church and school of utmost importance
Participatory local government, with annual town meeting
Towns built around town common or square
Church with steeple
Customary white houses with green blinds, set gable-end to the street
Lush gardens in front yards
Motivating Factors in Westward Migration
First settlers were often restless spirits who disliked the restraint of the law, church, and school. Some
built temporary homes, stayed for a short time, and then moved on to the new frontier. But other factors
also persuaded New Englanders to venture westward, including weather (e.g.,
summer of 1816), crowding in coastal cities and towns, and the opportunity of
acquiring cheap, fertile land.
Legislation and Treaties Affecting Migration
Below are a few significant treaties and legislative actions affecting westward
migration.
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Land Ordinance of 1785
1785 Fort McIntosh Peace
1787 Northwest Ordinance
1789 Treaty of Fort Harmar
1795 Treaty of Greenville
1800 Division of Northwest
Territory, creating Indiana Territory
 1802 Enabling Act
 1804 Land Act
 1805 Michigan Territory created
 1812 Louisiana Territory renamed
Missouri Territory
 1820 Public Land Act; Missouri
Compromise
 1836 Wisconsin Territory created
 1853 Washington Territory created
 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act
 1862 Homestead Act
The Bureau of Land Management offers an excellent Homesteading Timeline on its website at
http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/wo/Law_Enforcement/nlcs/education__interpretation/homestead
_graphics0.Par.57736.File.dat/Expanded%20Homestead%20Timeline%20final.pdf.
The
Southeast
Vermont Community Learning Collaborative has created an excellent “Timeline of Westward Migration
and U.S. Expansion” on it website, The Flow of History at http://www.flowofhistory.org/themes/
movement_settlement/westerntimeline.php. Worldatlas.com has a detailed timeline for each state. Select a
state on the national map at http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/us.htm; then, click
on “Timeline.”
Indian Paths, Post Roads, Canals, and Major Routes
Old Indian paths offered an established network for building post roads for delivery of mail and other
government business. Many post roads became major migration routes as settlers pushed the frontier
westward. See Abraham Bradley’s 1796 Map of the United States (memory.loc.gov). Some emigrants
travelled by way of Canada and the northern lakes. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 triggered a
flood of new emigrants. Below are several significant migration routes.
 Boston Post Road
 Chicago Road
 Connecticut Path &
Greenwood Trail
 Crown Point Road
 Erie Canal
 Forbes Road
 Genesee Road
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Gist’s Trace
Great Trail
Great Warrior’s Path
Illinois Trail
Iroquois Trail
King’s Highway
Kittanning Path
Lake Trail
 Maumee Portage Trail
 National Road
 Nemacolin’s Path (Braddock’s
Road)
 Northwest Turnpike
 Senaca Trail
 Wabash Trail
 Wisconsin Trail
New England Nativity
Reflected in 1850 Census
Analysis of New England nativity in non-New England states by 1850 yields some interesting results,
particularly with respect to the number of people who migrated from Vermont.
Conn.
Maine
Mass.
N.H.
R.I.
Vermont
TOTAL
California
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Michigan
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Wisconsin
Minnesota Terr.
N. Mexico Terr.
Oregon Terr.
Utah Terr.
1317
6899
2485
1090
6751
742
2105
66,101
22,855
9266
228
4125
48
10
72
193
2700
3693
976
713
1117
311
287
4509
3314
1157
68
3252
365
12
129
151
4760
9230
2678
1251
8167
1103
1494
55,773
18,763
7330
407
6285
92
24
187
350
904
4288
886
580
2744
304
301
14,519
4821
1775
39
2520
47
6
44
123
861
1051
438
256
1031
124
264
13,129
1959
1946
97
690
3
1
20
21
1194
11,381
3813
1645
11,113
630
280
52,599
14,320
4532
37
10,157
100
8
111
232
11,736
36,542
48,278
5,535
30,923
36,458
4,731
206,630
211,361
26,006
876
26,882
655
61
716
1,070
TOTAL
124,287
22,754
117,894
33,901
21,891
112,152
432,879
New York and New Jersey: Permanent Settlement or Stopping Point?
Migration into New York began with settlement of Gravesend on Long Island in 1640 by a group from
Massachusetts. In the years following the Revolutionary War, bounty land attracted New Englanders in
significant numbers. Many settled on the western shores of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. New
Englanders began migrating to New Jersey in 1661, when 30 families from the New Haven Colony set out
by boat and settled in what is now Newark.
Settlement in the South
New England settlement in the south began in 1696 with establishment of the Dorchester Colony in
South Carolina. A sizeable group of Nantucket Quakers settled in Guilford and Onslow Counties in North
Carolina in the 1770s. Between 1795 and 1817, settlers from Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts
settled in Mobile, Alabama.
Northward to Lower Canada
Following the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, many New England planters migrated to lower
Canada. Fishermen from Cape Cod and Nantucket migrated to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, as early as 1757.
In 1783, some 8,000 Loyalists sought refuge in Canada in an area known as the “Eastern Townships.”
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the Western Reserve
Migration to Pennsylvania began on a large scale before the Revolution, but on a far greater scale
afterward. In 1753, the Susquehanna Company was formed by Connecticut settlers to develop the Wyoming
Valley. Connecticut ceded its right to the land in 1786, in exchange for what later became the Western
Reserve. Connecticut ceded its right to the Western Reserve in 1800.
In 1786, the town of Marietta, Ohio, was laid out and settled by a group from Massachusetts known as
the Ohio Land Company. By 1787, the tide of emigration along the shores of Lake Erie and the Muskingum
River began over several routes, including the Mohawk Valley, the Old Braddock Road, and the Ohio River.
In 1797, the Blockhouse Road opened up across the Allegheny Mountains, a major migration route from
New England. By the 1840s, Ohio ceased to be the “far west.”
The Old Northwest Territory
The Old Northwest Territory included land west of Pennsylvania and northwest of the Ohio River:
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and northeastern part of Minnesota. Indiana settlers were more
likely to be from Kentucky, Tennessee, or the coastal south, but some of those were New England natives.
Northern Illinois became a Yankee stronghold, while southern Illinois was populated by settlers mostly
from Virginia, Kentucky, and the Carolinas. Michigan became the first western state to adopt the town
meeting, a strong indicator of Yankee influence. The Black Hawk War of 1832 directed migration to land
north of Illinois into Wisconsin. Counties in the southwest corner of the state were settled primarily by
southern emigrants, while the eastern districts filled with New Englanders and New Yorkers.
Settlement in the Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri Territories
Before being set off as the Iowa Territory in 1838, Iowa was part of Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri,
Michigan, and Wisconsin Territories. By 1844, New England missionaries were making concerted efforts
to bring Yankee civilization to the west. Minnesota became a territory in 1849. The territory’s first
newspaper, the Minnesota Pioneer, gained attention on the eastern seaboard, attracting many New
Englanders. By far, the greater numbers were from Maine, followed by Vermont and New Hampshire.
Missouri and neighboring Kansas struggled with the issue of slavery. As Kansas approached statehood,
New Englanders took an active role in opposing slavery there. The New England Emigrant Aid Company
was formed (among others) and transplanted some 2,000 anti-slavery residents to the territory.
Crossing the Rocky Mountains
Many New Englanders migrated with Brigham Young in the 1840s, ultimately settling in the Utah
Territory. The Oregon Territory, established in 1848, included Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of
Wyoming and Montana. New England influence was felt much earlier. Most Yankee settlements were
concentrated along the rivers west of the Cascades.
When California was admitted as a state in 1850, it was already home to several thousand Yankees
from every New England state. In 1849, New Englanders caught Gold Rush Fever, setting sail for Cape
Horn and Panama, on their way to San Francisco. Some returned, but many became permanent settlers.
Recommended Sources for Further Study
Adams, James Truslow and Kenneth T. Jackson, eds. Atlas of American History. 2nd revised ed. New York:
Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1985.
Bradley, Abraham Jr. A Map of the United States Exhibiting Post Roads & Distances: the First Sheet
Comprehending the Nine Northern States, with Parts of Virginia and the Territory North of Ohio;
digital image, Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html : accessed 1 April
2015).
Dollarhide, William. Map Guide to American Migration Routes, 1735-1815. Bountiful, Utah: Heritage
Quest, 1997.
Eldridge, Carrie. An Atlas of Northern Trails Westward from New England. Huntington, WV: CDM
Printing, Inc., 2000.
Getz, Lynne Marie. “Partners in Motion: Gender, Migration, and Reform in Antebellum Ohio and Kansas.”
Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. Vol. 27, No. 2 (2006): 102-135.
Hamilton, P.A. “Some Southern Yankees.” American Historical Magazine. Vol. 3 (Oct. 1898); digital
images, Google Books (www.books.google.com : accessed 30 January 2015).
Hotchkin, Rev. James H. A History of the Purchase and Settlement of Western New York, and of the Rise,
Progress, and Present State of the Presbyterian Church in that Section. New York: M.W. Dodd, 1848;
digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org : accessed 30 January 2015).
Holbrook, Stewart H. The Yankee Exodus: An Account of Migration from New England. New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1950.
Hotchkin, Rev. James H. A History of the Purchase and Settlement of Western New York, and of the Rise,
Progress, and Present State of the Presbyterian Church in that Section. New York: M.W. Dodd, 1848;
digital images, The Internet Archive (www.archive.org : accessed 4 April 2015).
Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Ohio. 3 vols. Columbus: Henry How & Son, 1891; Internet Archive
(https://archive.org : accessed 30 January 2015).
Jones, Pomroy. Annals and Recollections of Oneida County. Rome, NY: the author, 1851; digital images,
Internet Archive (https://archive.org : accessed 30 January 2015).
Mathews, Lois Kimball. The Expansion of New England: The Spread of New England Settlement and
Institutions to the Mississippi River 1620-1865. New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1762.
Rohrer, S. Scott. Wandering Souls: Protestant Migrations in America. Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina Press, 2010.
Turner, O. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve;
Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany,
and Parts of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming, to Which Is Added, a Supplement, or Extension of the
Pioneer History of Monroe County. Rochester: Erastus Darrow, publisher, 1851; digital images,
Internet Archive (https://archive.org : accessed 30 January 2015).
Waitley, Douglas. Roads of Destiny: The Trails that Shaped a Nation. Washington: R.B. Luce, 1970.
Winkle, Kenneth. The Politics of Community: Migration and Politics in Antebellum Ohio. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1988).