My dad's side of the family is mostly English Catholic, the earliest ancestor to come over to the US was in the mid 1600s to the Virginia colony. My grandmother found a will that is from a direct ancestor of my granddad that shows that ancestor leaving his few acres and some pigs to his son. Knowing how it was for Catholics in England at the time, I'm pretty sure I know how and why he came over. He was believed to be just fourteen or so when he made the trip.