Try this site and maybe it will at least give you an idea. I have found it very useful and I know how you feel as I have been stuck in Hampshire Co. WV for 4 years at the same spot. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm Good Luck Tootsie Nedra Dickman Brill wrote: > At 07:10 PM 6/20/2001 -0500, you wrote: > >I am interested in anything you find onWATSON. I have an ancestor, Eliza > >WATSON, b. around 1804 in Ohio, likely Greene County. I have been at a > >dead end for about a year now. Her husband was a BOWEN, also from Ohio. > >They moved to Jones County, Iowa, in the 1830's. Please forward me anything > > Ah, the joys of tracing a relatively common surname back to "born in Ohio." > > Try looking at the family in the 1850 Federal census and perhaps the 1855 > Iowa State census. Examine their neighbors for a couple of pages on either > side, noting all of the families who were also "born in Ohio" and > especially those who, by the children's birth info, would seem to have > migrated at approximately the same time. Hopefully one of these families > will have a less common surname. Even if not, look then at the 1830 Ohio > census index for a county where you might find this group of surnames in > close proximity. > > Good luck, > > Nedra > > Nedra Dickman Brill, Certified Genealogist [email protected] > > Historian, Henckel Family National Association > Coordinator Pendleton County, WV, [email protected] > > CG is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, > used under license after periodic evaluations by the Board. > http://www.bcgcertification.org/ > > ============================== > Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp

At 12:18 PM 6/23/2001 -0400, you wrote: >Try this site and maybe it will at least give you an idea. I have found >it very >useful and I know how you feel as I have been stuck in Hampshire Co. WV for 4 >years at the same spot. >http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm I totally understand how you feel. Hampshire County was settled early "generally" by those migrating from eastern Pennsylvania through Frederick County, Maryland. Many persons then followed the Potomac-Ohio Rivers westward, dropping off anywhere along their routes and on both banks. Thus, we find these settlers (sometimes progressively) in southwestern Pennsylvania, northern Kentucky, southern Ohio, etc. Yes, they went through Ross County to get to Greene, and again may have stopped over/left family members behind/etc. anywhere along the way. One of my lines was a tenant farmer who kept going back and forth between NW Ross and eastern Greene, living on the land of whoever he currently worked for but showing also that communications were active between the two locals. An example of "leaving behind": The Glantz/Klontz/Clontz families of two brothers John and Jacob came from Berks County, PA, and are found in Clark County (Madison County) in 1840. By 1850 they have moved to Stephenson County, IL. The entire family except the oldest son of Jacob, William Klontz, who married a "local girl" in Ross Township, Greene County, OH, and founded the entire clan of Ohio Klontz's. Proving this migration is certainly facilitated by Jacob's estate settlement in Illinois which names son William of Greene County, Ohio! <G> But this also shows that one must follow the entire family, not just the direct line ancestors. Nedra Nedra Dickman Brill, Certified Genealogist [email protected] Historian, Henckel Family National Association Coordinator Pendleton County, WV, [email protected] CG is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license after periodic evaluations by the Board. http://www.bcgcertification.org/