In 1785, a group of families from the southern Maryland counties of St. Mary, Charles and Prince George formed a “Catholic League of Families” [aka "Emigration League"] pledging to migrate to Kentucky. Reasons for this move were varied. Economics may have played a large role in this westward movement, with the depletion of available land in Maryland and the after-ef ects of the constant plundering by the British during the Revolutionary War. Certainly religious freedom was a likely concern to many of these pioneers. After a century of anti-Catholic bias in Maryland, many were seeking freedom to openly practice their faith. John Carroll (a few years later named the Bishop of Baltimore) told them that if they would settle together he would do what he could to supply them with a priest.
True to their word, these pioneers largely settled together in what today are the three Kentucky counties of Nelson, Washington and Marion. Even now this central Kentucky area is known far and wide as the Kentucky Holy Lands. As land further west opened up for settlement, some of these same pioneer families again packed up and headed out seeking a better life for themselves and their families. Many from this group seemed to have agreed to once again settle together. This led to many sister communities of this same group all across the western part of the United States.