Migration to the USA:
Since the early 1600s there have been strong connections between Dorset and the American Colonies. Many of the Mary and John passengers of 1630 came from Dorset and settled firstly in Dorchester, Massachusetts and later in Windsor, Connecticut.
During the next two centuries Dorset forged close links with all the North American Colonies. This came to an abrupt end during the Revolutionary Wars. After 1815 there was a steady increase in migration to the United States, not all went directly via New York. In the 1830s many settlers went via Quebec to Canada and travelled on to the United States after a couple of years. A group who travelled this way came from the Whitchurch Canonicorum and Hawkchurch area of West Dorset. After a short stay in Canada they settled in Western Jefferson Co. NewYork, these included the Turner, Lane, Eveleigh, Orchard, Harris, Membery and Stoodly families. These were later joined by the Powell, Stokes and Williams families.
People from West Dorset were still migrating there in the 1920s. Mark Wentling, a descendant of the families is doing research in the USA on the families from Dorset. Another pocket of Dorset migration is in Macoupin Co. Illinois. In 1836 Robert Meatyard and his wife came to Piasa and in 1853 he settled in Shipman and opened a store and became an agent for the Chicago, Alton and St. Louis railroad. We would like to know more about all these migrants and the Dorset people who
went to Blue Point, Suffolk Co. New York; Schenectady, New York; Alton,
Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri and any more places you can tell us about.
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