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American Migrations |
One
of the most enduring, fascinating qualities of our extended family has been the
constant migration of our cousins seeking new opportunities and better lives.
This has included wave after wave of pioneering cousins who pushed west and
south into new, unfamiliar territories. It also encompasses generations of
cousins who remained in our founding state of Pennsylvania, but migrated from
town to town seeking new pursuits and prosperity.
Oklahoma Land Rush
Among the many examples, the Oklahoma Land Rush of April 1889 was an event in which some of our cousins took active part, and staked their claim in the newly opened region.
As Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin observed in his award-winning book, The National Experience:
The churning, casual, vagrant, circular motion around and around was as characteristic of the American experience as the movement in a single direction... More than anything else, [Americans] valued the freedom to move, hoping in their very movement to discover what they were looking for. Americans thus valued opportunity, or the chance to seek it, more than purpose.
View these special pages to gain a better understanding of who these cousins were, where they went, and what they did when they arrived.
Copyright © 2004 Mark A. Miner