Wilkinson Migration

The history of American westward migration before the Revolutionary War was in fact a more southerly journey. Bounded on the west by the Appalachian Mountains, the original colonies were hemmed in between the mountains and the ocean. After peace was reached between the British and French in 1764, King George III prohibited settlement beyond the Appalachians. This decree forced settlers seeking new lands to look south into the newly opened lands of the Valley of Virginia.

Settling in the Piedmont, these new settlers formed a buffer between the settlements in the tidewater and the Indians. And these westernmost settlers would provide a disproportionately high number of Continental soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Some Revolutionary War historians have postulated that the Scot-Irish from over the mountains were the difference between victory and defeat, crushing the South Carolina Tories at the Battles of King's Mountain NC and Cowpens SC, forcing Cornwallis north out of the Carolinas and into the eventual trap at Yorktown VA.

With victory secured, there was an immediate push west into new lands. Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, used these western lands to settle Revolutionary War debts by awarding Bounty Land Grants and to generate revenue through sale of tracts of lands to speculators. [The Wilderness Road]

The Wilkinson Family migration pattern illustrates this migration route:
-Immigration to Berks Co PA
-Migration south to Dorchester Co MD
-Migration south to Rowan Co NC
-Migration west to Orange/Caswell Co NC
-Migration west to Russell Co VA
-West to Greene Co NC (now TN)
-West to Knox Co KY
-West to Indiana
-West to Missouri

Caveat

This site is provided for reference only. Except where specifically cited, information contained is conjecture and should not be considered as fact.
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