The beetles got my peach tree. Did bugs or weather send your relative into a financial tailspin?
If insects or weather could negatively effect your ancestor, it could have a financial impact. Did your ancestor only mortgage the farm once–right after a year of drought or an infestation of locusts? Did your ancestor move because there were several years of extremely uncooperative weather in a row? Newspapers and county histories may mention such events and they could be timed to documents that indicate your ancestor was under financial stress.
In severe cases your ancestor may have moved, lost the farm, or both.
Always keep an open mind for things outside your relative’s control that may have impacted his behavior.
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2 Responses
Weather also affects emotionally charged behavior. Excessive heat set off bad tempers in “Romeo and Juliet” to make a dicy situation worse.
For sure! I had always wondered why my ancestors moved from Northen Kansas to Southern Kansas. The answer was in the deed book. First a purchase with cash, then a mortgage, then a sale. The second two events occurred after several grasshopper infestations. They started over away from the grasshoppers.