Is it possible that your relative lived in an area for a few years and left behind no records at all?
I have an ancestor who married probably in Kentucky in the latter part of the 1810s. At least I’m assuming there was an actual marriage as they lived together the rest of their lives and had over a dozen children.
But her parents? I’ve started to wonder if the reason that I cannot find them is that they were only really “passing through” the area where their daughter met her husband. If they rented a home (or more likely a farm), there would be no records of land ownership or property taxes. If chattel property was taxed, I need to determine what personal property (both in terms of items and amount) was taxed during that time period.
It’s very possible that the parents were in the area long enough for the couple to meet and decide to get married without the parents leaving a record. They might have moved on right around the time the marriage took place–and given when it probably did, they likely missed the census enumeration in that location as well.
Significant events can take place in a location even when a couple only lives there a short time.
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My paternal great-grandmother, born & raised in northern Missouri, homesteaded in Nebraska with her brother for a few years. While there she met the man who became my great-grandfather who was from Warren County, Illinois. None of their parents ever lived in Nebraska, & after surviving some terrible storms, the couple & my grandmother who was born in Nebraska gave up homesteading & moved to Missouri near her parents.