If your ancestor settled in or passed through North or Central Alabama during the early 1800’s this is the project for you! Alabama Fever was the great land rush that occurred as early settlers moved in to establish land claims in Alabama as Native American tribes ceded territory. It came to be characterized as a movement of farmers and their slaves ever further west to new slave states and territories in the pursuit of fertile land for growing cotton. It was one of the first great American land booms until superseded by the California Gold Rush in 1848. The term "Alabama Fever" was used as early as 1817, during the Alabama Territory period. Prior to the formation of the Alabama Territory, this land had been part of the Mississippi Territory. In 1819, Alabama became a state. During this time period, early pioneers struck with the "Alabama Fever" came pouring in from the states of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Alabama's population swelled from approximately 9,000 in 1810 to over 145,000 in 1820 and by 1830 the population had exploded to more than 300,000 people. Many of the earliest settlers of Alabama had been soldiers in the War of 1812 and the Creek Indian War (1813-1814). Many of the early pioneers from North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia made their way into Alabama through the former Cherokee lands while many of the early pioneers from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee made their way into Alabama by way of "Bear Meat Cabin Road" which as part of an early Native American trail known as the Great Tennessee Trail. The original trail extended from Tennessee through North & Central Alabama to Tuscaloosa, and was named for a popular junction in Blount County, Alabama, that had been the home of Chief Bear Meat. By 1817, great numbers of people had settled up and down this road, and it was surveyed, extended southward, and renamed "St. Stephens-Huntsville Road" or "The Old Huntsville Road," becoming an important federal trade route through the Alabama Territory in 1818 during the great Alabama Fever land rush. Parts of this road still exists today as US Highway 231, Alabama State Highway 79, Alabama State Highway 75, and Alabama State Highway 69. Our project is a Y-DNA, mtDNA and Family Finder Autosomal DNA endeavor with the focus being to trace the origins of the various families whose ancestors participated in the great Alabama Fever land rush. The project is focused primarily on finding the ancestral roots of those who settled in or passed through the popular junction at Blount County, Alabama, and its neighboring counties of Jefferson, Walker, Cullman, St. Clair, Etowah and Marshall County, but is also open to genetic matching families who settled in the nearby counties of Shelby, DeKalb, Jackson, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Randolph, Talladega, Calhoun, Tuscaloosa, Morgan, Madison, Limestone, Lawrence, Lauderdale, Winston, Marion and Fayette Counties. Those from any ethnicity who believe they may be descended from or related to ancestors who lived in these areas before the Civil War and are biologically related to current project members or believe they may be biologically related to current project members are invited to join. The surnames of interest for the Alabama Fever DNA Project include (but are not limited to) those listed on our website. Please be sure that you are logged into your FTDNA account when clicking on the "Join" link on our site and sending your join request. If you've taken your DNA test through a 3rd party and do not yet have a FTDNA account, but would still like to participate in the project, please email our project administrator with your request at alabamafeverdna@gmail.com.