American Mobility Declines in the 21st Century

Hooray!  The American population is staying put longer and in areas associated with their family history.

Mobility according to USA Today 18 Dec 2008:

__56% of adults have never lived outside the state where they were born

__74% of those who don’t move, stay put to be near family

__69% of those who don’t move want to live where they grew up or nearby

People move for economic opportunity (according to those polled).  And they stay put for family–even if it means a cut in pay or fewer work hours.

The prime age for migration is age 18-28, usually single.

These interesting statistics can be used with profit–searching the NEW memory sites being established across the country.  The Library of Congress led the way with its American Memory site.  Now Virginia, West Virginia,  and Kansas have added memory sites to their historical online presence.

http://www.virginiamemory.com Cooperative effort of the Library of Virginia, drawing on all divisions of the state archives and reference library.  Designed to make downloads easy.

http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/wvmemory/index.html Sharing the struggle of West Virginia people to understand and preserve their history.

http://www.kansasmemory.org Sharing the historical collections of the Kansas State Historical Society online.

And that’s what today’s genealogists want–online access, preferably FREE, to the records and the historical background of their ancestors.  Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle    http://arleneeakle.com

PS  Consider: Those who move away are often not recorded in the family history.  If this statement is true–and you don’t move away, or you moved and now you have come back to family, you too, will be included in the family history.  What else could be so cool?

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