From: A Garrison Family History by Ray H. Garrison

Why Valentine and Sarah made this long and arduous move to a frontier area (Kentucky) isn’t known. None of Valentine’s brothers or sisters migrated to Kentucky with him, but part of Sarah’s family did. One of Sarah’s sisters and one of her brothers, along with Sarah’s mother, went with them in their move. Sarah’s sister, whose name was Jane, was married to Charles Lewis Pickett, a close friend to Valentine. Sarah’s brother, whose name was Harrison Dowell, was married to Nancy Hall. These three families—-—Valentine m. Sarah Dowell, Charles Pickett m. Jane Dowell Pickett, and Harrison Dowell m. Nancy Hall—made the move together.

The trip from Albemarle County, Virginia to Adair County, Kentucky was long and difficult. If the families had gone directly from Virginia to Adair County, Kentucky, they would have traveled about 540 miles. But they didn’t go directly to Adair County. Rather, they went first to Madison County, Kentucky, which is located about 100 miles to the north east of Adair County, to see if that location was favorable for settling. After just two weeks in Madison County, however, they decided to move on to Adair County.

The reason for moving on from Madison County to Adair County is given by Mary Alice Pickett Shirley, a great-granddaughter of Charles Lewis Pickett. In a short history about the Pickett family, she wrote that after two weeks in Madison County her great—grandfather Charles Lewis Pickett declared, “We have to move on to where there is mast (beech mast was used for hog feed) and water.” 3 As suggested by this comment, the families took animals with them in the move, and the welfare of the animals was a high priority. It would have been unwise indeed to settle in a place where there was insufficient feed and water, so the Pickett, Garrison, and Dowell families left Madison County and moved on. They headed southwest another 100 miles and settled in Adair County, where they found adequate mast and water for the animals, and other conditions that were favorable for settling.

Most of Valentine’s children migrated to Macoupin County, Illinois in the 1860s and 1870s.