Sometimes it can seem as if a couple or family simply disappeared into thin air. I have a couple who are last mentioned in a record in Harford County, Maryland, around 1805 or so. They approximately would have been in their fifties at that point in time.

Then they are gone.

Did they simply die with no children and not enough money to warrant an estate settlement? Did they even have children? Did they move west only to die in an epidemic as an entire family on the way out or shortly after their arrival and not leave behind any records in the new location?

I can’t assume they moved away and I can’t assume they stayed. I’m inclined to believe they moved away but I have no evidence of that either.

My attempts to locate them outside the area should be somewhat focused if possible. To narrow down the geographic area of my search, I should determine what areas emigrants from Harford County, Maryland, tended to favor as they left the area in the early 19th century. Perhaps my “missing” relatives from that area settled near their former neighbors. Even if they never left Maryland, it’s possible that their children (if they had any) did.

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