Do you know what the approximate contemporary population was for the town, county, and state during the time period your ancestor lived there? How did the population change over his life time?
Knowing the rough population helps to provide perspective.
And if you don’t know the population, what other things about the area do you not know?
County histories, state histories, newspapers, government websites, gazetteers, and other sources may contain this information. Your reference librarian at your local library may be able to help as well.
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