I too find what you say very interesting and I have recently been in pursuit of several of my distant families of this very region in southern Ohio in the pre-war period: Ross and Pike Counties. I now have much evidence about them. They were free and from Virginia. I have discovered that they made the trip in an 1856-58 time period and I am sure that they traveled from Va. to Ohio with another (perhaps several) families - but have no real evidence on that as yet. Would love to talk more on this subject and compare notes.
Art I believe your statement here is true.
"This indicates to me a closeness and the continuance of a connectivity among these families that demonstrates a unity among FPOC families during the pre-civil war years in Ohio."
Conference??
Thanks