A path from Virginia to Kentucky

Google Maps. Pittsylvania County, VA to Adair County, KY.

In January 1819, Nicholas Free might have made the journey from Pittsylvania County, Virginia to the developing lands of Adair County, Kentucky, along the Crocus Creek tributary of the Cumberland River. By 1819, the main route west through the mountains was well established, but at 400-450 miles it was still an arduous overland trek potentially through mud, ice, snow and freezing river crossings. This may have been a three to five week journey.

Traveling from Pittsylvania County, Nicholas and companions would have followed early local wagon trails to Big Lick (modern day Roanoke), then picking up the great wagon road heading southwest into the Great Valley of Virginia. He would have continued along the road to Abingdon, continuing into East Tennessee (the stomping grounds of my Jones family line).

LOC.gov. Abraham Bradley's 1812-1821 Post Road map.

LOC.gov. 

By this time those moving to south-central Kentucky continued on trails following along the Cumberland River.

Nicholas and family settled on a corner of Adair County, along the Crocus Creek, which later became part of Russell County, Kentucky in 1825. The copy isn't great, but the 1861 Metcalfe County marriage entry for my 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free lists her father William's birthplace as Russell County.

Ancestry. Metcalfe County, KY. 27 June 1861.

How do I know Nicholas Free came from Pittsylvania County, Virginia? I'll pick this up in the next post, thanks once again to FamilySearch Full Text Search.