Chapter 4: Southern Migration

As immigrants continued to pour into Pennsylvania through the port of Philadelphia, land became so high in price and so thickly populated, the settlers began a southward movement. Thousands of Pennsylvanians made their trek to the south over the "Great Philadelphia Wagon Road" to the fertile bottom lands along the rivers of North and South Carolina. This road ran from Philadelphia through The Great Valley of Virginia, to Winston-Salem, and to Salisbury. From Salisbury, a road ran through the valley of the Yadkin to Cheraw and along the Great Pee Dee River to Georgetown. The settlers traveled in the sturdy wagons devised by the Pennsylvania German craftsman in the Conestoga Valley in Lancaster County. They traveled with household goods, women and children in the wagons, the men and boys walking and driving the cattle before them. This then, is the way the Postons left Pennsylvania and traveled south, finally settling in Marion District, now Florence County, South Carolina. We cannot help admiring the courage of our ancestors.

Land was cheaper in the Carolinas and the climate was milder than in Pennsylvania, so in 1766, we find John and Margaret Baldridge Poston selling their land to join the southward march. They sold their 274½ acres to James Smith for 730 pounds on 2 September 1766 (Deed Book A3, page 187, Chester County Deeds, West Chester, Pennsylvania). Unfortunately, the compiler has found no records for the fifteen years following the sale of the land. From the deed, we know Margaret was living 2 September 1766, and from her father's will, we know she died before 9 January 1767, the date of the will. Since Margaret died so soon after the land was sold, she may have died in Chester County, leaving John to make the move to the south with their children. It is probable that John reached South Carolina since later census records indicate that John and Anthony, the two sons, were hardly old enough to carve out homes for themselves in the wilderness that was at that time the back country of South Carolina. Perhaps future research will reveal when and where Margaret died, when and where John died, and the names and birthdates of their children. At the present, we know only that: John2 Poston (John1) Married Margaret Baldridge b. 1719 in Ireland d. 1766 Two of their children were: •John Poston •Anthony Poston