Westward expansion has been a constant theme in American history. Hundreds of thousands of settlers moved west in search of new opportunities, and this included people from Albemarle County.
Local historian Rev. Edgar Woods provides a nine page list of Albemarle County residents who emigrated to other states in his 1901 history, “Albemarle County In Virginia” (available from the Internet Archive).
“The migratory spirit which characterized the early settlers, was rapidly developed at this period. Removals to other parts of the country had begun some years before the Revolution. The direction taken at first was towards the South. A numerous body of emigrants from Albemarle settled in North Carolina. After the war many emigrated to Georgia, but a far greater number hastened to fix their abodes on the fertile lands of the West, especially the blue grass region of Kentucky.”
“For a time the practice was prevalent on the part of those expecting to change their domicile, of applying to the County Court for a formal recommendation of character, and certificates were given, declaring them to be honest men and good citizens.”
Click the image below to open a map that displays almost 100 years of migration outward from Albemarle County, based on Woods’ list:
Caveats
- The map is only as good as the underlying list compiled by Woods and almost certainly doesn’t include everyone who emigrated from Albemarle County.
- The quality of the listed destination location also varies. In most cases Woods provides a destination county, but in others he only lists a state. In those instances the map shows a single point representing the center of the state.
- Unfortunately the list does not include any dates so it’s impossible to do any time-based visualization. Spot checks of people on the list showed a date as early as 1786 and as late as 1887.