When pioneers left the New England states, they often immigrated to North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. After a few years, their descendants moved further west along the National Road through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to Missouri. Much of that road is now known as Highway 40. Due to the risk of deaths, illnesses and accidents during the journey, few families migrated by themselves. Instead, they traveled in clusters that included relatives, neighbors and extended families from their old community.

The trips were slow, since wagons only traveled 10-20 miles each day. During bad weather, the families sometimes had to stop for several days or weeks. Small towns developed at the sites where settlers frequently stopped along the National Road. If a family needed to stop for a longer perio

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