I have been looking at Pennsylvania a great deal recently. I believe that I had Quaker families, Scotch-Irish, and German who came into the Delaware River area in the late 1600s to the mid 1700s. Not many of my ancestors stayed in that area for more than a generation or two. And almost all of them came down the Great Wagon road towards the south. There were Indian problems in the west of Pennsylvania on the western side of the Susquehanna River. The land had become expensive in Pennsylvania. The land further south was much cheaper. Many of my ancestors first moved to the western frontier of Pennsylvania living in Lancaster, York, and Cumberland before they decided to make the trek south.
You can see on the below map why they chose the Great Wagon road. The Shenandoah Valley through which the road traveled lies between the Blue Ridge Mountains on the east (the sliver of dark green going from Harper's Ferry down through Washington, Perryville and the Appalachian Mountains on the west. You can see that the Applachian mountains were quite formidable
The area around Staunton and Fishersville and Waynesboro was a thoroughly Scotch-Irish area. James Patton established the Beverley Manor while Borden established Borden's Grant just south of Beverley Manor. John Lewis and James Patton were responsible for the 10,500 acres on Calf Pasture River in Augusta County. And John Caldwell led a group to Albemarle County in 1736. And this last settlement is what led me to this post today. I was thinking about a few of my family lines and the fact that they ended up in the area just east of the Blue Ridge mountains near Waynesboro. I became aware of Rock Fish Gap. It is called a Wind Gap because it was formed by erosion by a river or creek that no longer flows in the area. But it is indeed an inducement to move east to settle.
My interest in this area was first inspired by my h2Morrison family. Although Ronald feels sure that Patrick Morrison came west from having served his time as an indentured servant in the area around Richmond, Virginia, I have not been able to let loose of the idea that the Cabell County group who belong to this family line have folklore that our Morrisons were Scotch-Irish. And that I need to explore the possibility that that is true and that they traveled first to the area around Philly ....spent a bit of time near Lancaster....then traveled down the great wagon road to cross through the Rockfish Gap into Albemarle/Amherst. Amherst was formed out of Albemarle in 1761. So we find Patrick receiving land in Albemarle in 1751. It was 228 acres. He is shown with the same land in Amherst County in 1767 probably in preparation for selling soon after to move to the area we find him during the Revolutionary War in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. The witness in the sale in Amherst was the same man who sold him 50 acres in Pittsylvania County. His name was Elias Smith. It is possible that he was Patrick's father-in-law. He appeared as a next door neighbor to Patrick in Pittsylvania County. This last is information from Ronald. It is not my own research.
Again, according to Ronald, Patrick lived on Piney River in Albemarle/Amherst County. Your can see the arrow pointing. And you can see how close Patrick would have been to the Irish tract/Borden's and Calf Pasture River. Of course, you would have had to travel to one of the gaps on either side of Patrick.
Look on my slideshow for the image of the survey of Patrick's land on Piney River. It is the slideshow labelled Morrison Family before Pittsylvania County.
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