>X-From_: [email protected] Tue Apr 13 22:51:43 1999 >Resent-Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 19:41:14 -0700 (PDT) >From: [email protected] >Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 22:32:28 EDT >Subject: Groups of families migrating together > >Does anyone know if there is a way to find out which families traveled >together as they moved from state to state ? The main line I am researching >,the Hamptons ,moved from Tennessee to Illinois and then to Missouri. Many of >the same family names that I find near them in ILL. show up later in >Missouri. I am trying to find out if some of these families might be related >to mine. Is there a way to prove this or is it just luck and guessing ? >Thanks in advance for your help and ideas Jaime [email protected] Jaime.....that is what makes it all so much fun. I have been working on my family since I was a kid and I am still learning things about them. I make a file of surnames I find living near my family, over time it will all make sense. And yes, sometimes the way you find these families woven together will drive you crazy. For example: My main line was in Tennessee, then moved to Arkansas in 1830s. Some of the siblings made that move, some stayed in TN, and some in 1818 went to Alabama. I find some of the same surnames in all 3 places, and with time find that they are also all the same family. Digging deeper I find that there were usually a marriage between these families someplace, often in all 3 locations. Then when I add in the Ar ones moving to OK and the AL ones to TX - again it is the same families. I have taken the first census of Van Buren Co Arkansas in 1840 - the people began moving there around 1834 - and with about half of the families I find some relationship. Either they lived near each other, sometimes for two generations in two different states; or they were related. You might end up with two cousins with different surnames moving along together. I have found several of the surnames in 1790s in Virginia and it looks like they were all in the same church, with the same minister performing their marriages. I have the Bowman family living near mine in all locations. It begins in PA in 1740s, and goes all the way to 1900s in Arkansas. I mean in Illinois, Indiana, Mo, KY, Va, PA, AR, Texas. So my Bowman file is pretty big. I did find a Bowman/Turney marriage in PA very early, also a Gilliam/Bowman marriage on early frontier. So when I see Bowman as a middle name of some of the Arkansas Turney family, I search and find that the Turney wife was a Gilliam, thus her grandmother was a Bowman. Someone just sent me the name of his ancestor who had Turney as a middle name, found that the man's grandmother was a Turney. He was very happy I could give him more info on his family just from that middle name. So yes, it is very important to be aware of the surnames of people living near your ancestor, who traveled with them, etc. When I copy like a land deed, I do the page before and the page after. People moving into an area often filed about the same time and lived near each other; their children would later marry. Also census records, get about 5 families before and after your ancestor......in-laws often lived just down the road. The same with cemetery lists, if it is a small cemetery get the whole thing.....relatives were buried together. sometimes sisters would be buried near each other, but of course have different last names. Figure if someone is buried close to your ancestor in a small, old cemetery - they were very likely to be related in some way. You will have a lot of paper work to keep track of, just make a file for each surname and then you can break it down by location if it gets too big. In maybe 30 years or so it will all begin to make sense to you. Mary