Families tend to move in groups. That’s true whether the journey is one of several thousand miles across an ocean or a few hundred miles across a small mountain. When they move in groups, they tend to move over time–not all at once on one day. Who was the first one to arrive in the area? Who came later? The first migrants tend to be single men–but not always. They send word back to the “home folks” and more decide to make the journey once the earlier immigrant or immigrants have settled. Don’t assume your ancestral couple was the “first set” to arrive. There may have been an earlier immigrant, perhaps a brother, cousin, or neighbor. Even if they were the “first, they possibly encouraged others to follow […]
Married couples have had difficulty getting along since the first marriage. It’s the nature of human relationships that some don’t work as smoothly as hoped. For whatever reason, couples may choose not to actually divorce or file any court action regarding the dissolution of their marriage. They may however record some sort of land record to “separate” their property as a couple did in Kentucky did in 1862 (Michael and Margaret Trautvetter in Campbell County). The deed specified that the couple was not getting divorced at that point in time, but decided to partition their real and personal property into “his” and “hers.” Is there a land record documenting your relative’s separation? Not all marital squabbles ended in court–particularly if the couple separated without divorcing. Of course, if […]
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