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GONE TO CAROLINA! 
      So the frustrated tax assessor's lists and newspapers announcements often read.  The migrations to Carolina were a continuation of the Philadelphia Perimeter people on into the wilderness.   They radiated outward from the Philadelphia  Perimeter, south and west, then  into the Valley of Virginia, then on ever southward and westward, westward!.   
      White interior migrations followed long established Indian paths and routes, and when possible, relied once again upon waterways as had originally been done along the coastal waterways.  Cutting new paths through the dense forest for wagons was quite an undertaking.  The first people to move were traders,  hunters,  surveyor/land agents,  "backcountry men," and Quakers.  Among these were Abraham and Isaac Pennington, the Van Metre/Meter brothers, Jost Hite, Morgan  Bryan(t),  Christopher Gist.

The Philadelphia Perimeter --    Where it began

THE LEVI PENNINGTON STUDY PAGE
1. NAMES:  Just as we find in our quests for most of our ancestors, there aare several Levi's; the name continues through descendant families, leading to confusion as the generations spread out and there are increasing members of a lineage.  This earliest Levi was a Quaker.  I suggest therefore that we append that little qualifier onto our Levi  study page.  If someone has a better qualifier, Step Forth!  So for the time being, our focus is on Levi the Quaker.  Other names that are connected with Levi are found in the NC Land,  Tax and Census Records.  Our Cousin Alice Sanders has written a wonderful essay on the Northwest North Carolina  Land Records   and how to use them in differentiating, evaluating, and identifying.  You can access some very pertinent Census and Tax Records on Jeffrey  Weaver's excellent pages, New River Valley Historical Notes.   Rember to include Allied Names  we begin investigating Who's Who, and don't forget to copy Given Names that keep repeating in these families

2.  LOCALITIES  The first localities for Levi the Quaker are SW Virginia and NW North Carolina. 
Where did he come from?  I believe it was Pennsylvania because he was a Quaker.  Other Pennsylvania Quakers were busily coming and going too.  While we pursue Levi's origins, it might be good to ask a few  questions about the Richard Pennington who married Hannah Boone, starting with -- Is he the same person mentioned in an Indian attack in Tazewell County as "Richard Pemberton?"

A Rowan County NC internet page has some interesting articles about the Great Road and the area, which you might wish to read.

3.  HISTORY  The History of the Philadelphia Perimeter reads like a primer of the first NW North Carolina settlers.    Reading Pennsylvania History is therefore primary to understanding the settlement of the backcountry Virginia, the Carolinas and on into Kentucky, Tennessee, and further southern migrations.  In the Mid 1700's the principal history of these people revolves around the Five/Six Civilized Tribes whose paths through the Appalachians  became the interior roads the migrating white settlers used and expanded.
          But to return specifically to Levi Pennington, where did he come from?  I think if we comb through records of the upper Susquehanna (Bucks County, then Luzerne, Lycoming) we will find answers.