Farewell

We're Headed For Missouri

This is Mary Ann Harmon, one of my wife's 2nd great grandmothers, who lived on the harsh plains of Kansas. She is buried at Hallowell, Kansas.

The story of West Virginia would not be complete without telling of those who left to seek their fortunes in the West. In the 1800's, the family that didn't at least have a few members of their families "pack up" their earthly belongings and with their families, or alone, point their wagons west toward the promise of Missouri, was rare. Some would spend their lives in Missouri, others would move on to Nebraska, Kansas, and, eventually, California, Oregion, or Washington. There were a few who, finding the draw of the mountains that they had left behind too strong, returned home.

Families had been leaving Western Virginia for Missouri prior to the Civil War, but the exodos increased in the years following that tragedy. It is hard for some folks to believe, but, prior to the War Between the Sates, the area that makes up what is Now West Virginia had a greater population than did "Old Virginia." But, the migration west changed that.

We get a good picture of who these folks who moved were when we read what N. B. "Doc" McDowell writes is his autobiography Mark Crayon.

"There was quite an exodus from Irish Corner (a section of Monroe and Greenbrier Counties) and vicinity to Missouri along in the seventies. It included some of the most prominent families. Among them were the Erwins, Prices, Crawfords, Eades, Joneses, Hokes, VanStaverns, and even Wellington McCoy, the shoemaker....It included middle-aged and even old men. It wasn't only the young man who heeded Horace Greeley's admonition 'Go West, young man and grow up with the country.' It seemed to change the whole personnel of the community" (page 34).

I have read some of the old diarys and have seen entries that would read something like, "Bill, Mary, and the children left for Missouri today." I can picture emotional scenes with grandmother's clinging to thier daughters and to their grandchildren knowing "fullwell" that they might never see them again on this earth. It was a far cry then in the "horse and buggy days" from simply getting into an automobile and driving a few hundred miles. I can almost shed a tear now while writing these things. These scenes are made vivid to me when I type names into my data base and see all the place names in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and towns in states further west. It must have been a vigorous time. It had to have taken a strong family to withstand the hardships that came with

"Heading to Misssouri."