Hi Wendy, You've got a nice narrative below of what you have figured out about the family, but I can't tell what records you have searched and so what else you should check. It's all about the records. To find out where they lived in Pennsylvania, check the first deed. It may indicate where they lived before. The deed may be a grant (which doesn't mean they didn't pay for it -- it means that they bought it from the government. The area they bought in in Ohio is significant. What is an area researched for military? You can usually find this out by using the Internet these days. Military reserves were important in Ohio. The paperwork will tell you much: where they had lived, also info about the claimant. People were claiming bounty land awarded to parents and grandparents, etc, , way into the 1850s. Check obits, if you can find any. Check military records: pensions will indicate where they served. Widows could have filed for pensions. If they were in Pennsylvania during the Revolution they may have served in the militia and have been eligible for a state pension. State bounty land was north of the ALlegheny. They may have sold the warrant. Don't forget the War of 1812. There is a book, now in Ancestry, that supposedly has the names of non-naturalized British males in the USA during the war. They were required to register. Naturalization records may have information but at this early date, probably not. Unfortunately they're hard to find. The first papers are the important ones that could have info. The Allegheny Co ones are on line for members of the Western Pennsylvania genealogical Society. I'd use tax records in Ohio to figure out when they moved to the area. I'm assuming there are some, but you'll have to check with the county. Then in PA use the censuses to get a short list of target families, then go into land records, etc. Look for areas with REED and FULTON in close proximity. The will abstracts for Cumberland Co and a few others are on line. Look for the wife, in particular, in a will. There are several collections of PA church records on CD. I have a set. Check on line family trees for these people as well as compiled genealogies at Ancestry and other places. Download the free PA research guide from the Family History Library. It will contain the major indexes. Actually the FHL has a separate state guide with indexes. Identify your timeframe and check those indexes. It's hard if you haven't spent years studying this to hit all the bases and to do a thorough, standard genealogical search. You can purchase Legacy family tree. It contains research guidance and will identify all the standard sources you should be checking for. As you check these sources off you feel you are making progess -- and you are, even if you haven't found much. With a name like REED your issue isn't going to be not finding information but rather figuring out which REED. Be sure to develop a profile of your man -- his occupation, appoximate age, wife's name, ages of children, military service, etc. You can use this to eliminate men in PA. Once you have a short list of potentials, you can use tax records, etc, to find a man that disappears when yours appears in Ohio. He may have sold property when he moved (many did) so you can then look for deeds and tax records at the county level. They will tell you much. In some areas these records are published but don't neglect to visit. Westmoreland Co, for example, has very detailed tax records from the early years. It is the parent of the other counties. I used them to determine a man arrived in 1821, his occupation was merchant, and he owned 2000 acres. Another tactic you can do is trace collateral lines. You may find that the descendent of one of his other children does know where they lived before, or you may find the information in a county history where they moved, or an obit. etc.etc. This is a lot of work but it is the only reason we have a clue where my mother's paternal parents came from in Ireland -- because another descendent preserved the information. "Stick genealogy" (you at bottom, ancestor at top, no branches) doesn't work. You may find info too in the land grant records in Iowa. As the states where I research do not include federal land grants, I am not so familiar with them, but I do recall reading somewhere that you had to prove you were a citizen, etc, etc, to establish eligibility. May have info. See http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/. Reeds and Fultons here: http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/washington/vitals/births/washbirths1732-1889.txt Google -- that's how I found these ones. Good luck! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wendy Neuman McGuire" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 8:27:33 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [S-I] Reed research suggestions Linda's explanations are so valuable and motivating and this list very engaged! I know you will have some thoughts about where to go next to find the ancestral trail. Here is a family that I am pursuing. No brick walls - yet. Just not enough time to research. Any suggestions are appreciated. James Reed, b. 1800 in Pennsylvania, married Margaret Fulton, b. c. 1805 in Ireland, before 1825. James parents birthplaces were Ireland. Margaret's maiden name was found on the 1925 Iowa census reported by her daughter Hannah Reed Brock. They probably married in PA before 1825, which was the birth of their first child, Joseph. They immigrated to Ohio, where daughter Mary Elizabeth was b. in December 1832 and another daughter Hannah was born c. 1842. Next the James Reed family moved to Iowa where they appear on censuses beginning in 1850 and a land grant in 1849. James dies in June 1860 in Marshall Co., Iowa after being struck by lightening. Any suggestions about how to take the next step and find records for James Reed and Margaret Fulton in PA -- when the county is not known? TIA, Wendy ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message