Jack, Just a guess here, but my info. may help other researchers: I had always thought that my Dad and most of the Pritchett clan had lived in Murray County all of their lives, and in the same few houses where they owned land. After all, they were in Murray in 1900 and still here in 2000. They are listed as landowners. My Dad would often point out the house his father built, and his grandfather's house. I assumed they'd lived there "forever." However, it turns out that they moved about frequently and lived in quite a few houses over the years after 1900. Some Murray Countians were sharecroppers. They moved from one farm to another within Murray County. They often called the new house and plot of rented or tenant land by the name of the family that had previously tenanted it (i.e., "the Pritchett farm," even though the plot was actually a small part of the large farm of the actual landowner, i.e., the Colvard Farm). Some of them even went down to Florida one year to get work and then moved back. Another year, they moved to Blue Ridge to join kinfolks there, and then moved back. Once they moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and then moved back. I don't know how much of this was documented in census after 1920. My great-great grandfather moved from Gilmer Co., Georgia, to Kansas, about 1870 (after the census enumeration). Times had gotten hard after the Civil War. They went out to Kansas to find work and to join kinfolk who had already gone out in 1855 as early settlers. Part of the family, including great-great grandfather, moved back to Murray Co., Georgia. Great-greatgrandfather brought back a young son, Stephen Thomas Pritchett, who was born in Kansas in 1871. The birthplace is documented in Georgia census. Their move to Kansas wouldn't have appeared in census records if it hadn't happened that Stephen was born there. They returned before the 1880 census enumeration. Pritchett descendants out west have helped document the Kansas years for me, with land records, state census, etcetera. I think people moved more than we realize between census years, often returning to their old homesteads. Maybe the family you mentioned already had relatives in Murray County. Another possibility would be that they inherited a farm from kinfolk, came to Murray Co., resided a year or so, sold the farm, and returned to Bartow. Had any significant events occurred at that time, such as the death of a parent or grandparent? They may have had a difficult time financially if crops went bad--families sometimes moved in together when that happened. I have a similar situation where I find Winfield Scott Murray first in Union County, then in Fannin County, Georgia. Yet I find him on a tax list for Union County after the date that he was listed in census for Fannin County. But he was buried in Fannin County. So, did he move back and forth frequently, or did he own land that crossed county lines? (I first thought that he never moved at all, because Fannin County was formed out of a segment of Union County). Who knows? Land deeds might help. Dalton Library has some Murray Co. land records on microfilm, but you'd have to locate a genealogist to do lookups--the library doesn't have anyone on staff to do that. --dkp Visit Southern Muse: http://www.southernmuse.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jack F Milam" <byjacque@bellsouth.net> To: <GAMURRAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 9:14 PM Subject: Re: [MURRAY] Murray Co. Georgia ancestors | Does anyone know why a farming family would have moved to Murray county | about 1895, from Bartow county? | | They then moved back to Bartow county about 1900. | | Thanks! | | Jack Milam | | | | | | ==== GAMURRAY Mailing List ==== | --- Author Retains Copyright --- | -- Copyright 2001 Author -- All Rights Reserved | Post to List: GAMURRAY-L@rootsweb.com http://www.selfroots.com | Unsubscribe request To: GAMURRAY-L-request@rootsweb.com | ARCHIVES: http://searches2.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl |