Posts in January 30, 2012

My ancestors are pretty much from rural locations. When they moved, they settled where they had kin or kin arrived a few years after they did. My English speaking ancestors in the States moved across the country with some of the relatives and my 19th century European immigrants to rural America did the same thing–settling where they knew people or where they later brought relatives from “home.” My children have ancestors in Chicago, Philadelphia, and other large towns.For some reason, I decided that urban people didn’t “move with neighbors” like my rural family did. I was wrong. The more I researched the families in urban areas, I learned that they too stuck with family or had relatives nearby. The point this time isn’t about “chain migration,” (although that […]