Those First Associates and the “Home” Folks

When records on an ancestor fail to provide information as to his origin, look closely at those records in which he appears shortly after his arrival in the area. Who else is mentioned in those records? When an ancestor is still “new to the area,” he’s the most likely to interact with people he might have known before he moved or with whom he had a connection before he settled in that new area. Research those people he interacted with during his early years in the location.

The longer an ancestor lives in an area the more likely he is to know and interact with people he did not know “back home.” It’s those people from back home who could help you find your ancestor’s origins.