I need brainstorming help ... I have one clue, and one only, to an ancestor's place of origin in Europe: he claimed he was naming his successive plantations for his home town. Unfortunately, the baptismal records in that home town (and the 8 parishes surrounding it) fail to include his surname. There should be his baptism and the baptisms of two of his siblings. There are two burials of the right surname, and one en passant mention of something that happened at (surname)'s house. That's it for a period of roughly 75 years. One would expect a "home town" to have more mentions of the name. Yes, I've been _very_ flexible on the surname (I have about 36 known variants and another 24 possible variants). I checked the IGI and the Vital Records Index, checked more recent document-indices, etc etc and found nothing encouraging; there are no concentrations of the surname, only one or two instances at a time in places that would have been _widely_ scattered in the 1700s. Someone help me out -- If he didn't come from where he said he came from, and where everyone who met him said he was from, where's the first place I should look next? Cheryl singhals <[email protected]>

> I have one clue, and one only, to an ancestor's place of origin in > Europe: he claimed he was naming his successive plantations for his > home town. > > Unfortunately, the baptismal records in that home town (and the 8 > parishes surrounding it) fail to include his surname. > Someone help me out -- If he didn't come from where he said he came > from, and where everyone who met him said he was from, where's the > first place I should look next? > > Cheryl Singhals It would help if you would mention the country of origin, and specific town. A lot of countries have more than one town with the same name. Plus someone on the list may be familiar with the geographic area and be able to provide some insights based on that. kql kql <[email protected]>