Article Discussion

I am researching Edwards family history which includes some time in Lincoln county near Mud River. The first family from Ohio were Thomas and Lavinia Knapp Edwards arriving about 1869 to near Hamlin. They brought 6 children with them and had 2 more after settling near Griffthsville. The first son, John Wesley, who died from a falling tree in 1902, married, Elizabeth Caroline Jones, from Ohio and farmed in Lincoln co. the second child, a girl, Sarah Elizabeth, married Charles A Johnson, a miller on Mud River. She had one child ,Cleve Johnson, and died there. The next son Richard Lee married Malinda Shaver. of Milton. She also had ties to Ohio. Does anyone know why these Ohio people came to Lincoln co in 1868-70? Was Mud river big enough to move people on it?