Genealogists often use the placement of two people next to each other in a census as evidence they are neighbors. That’s good advice. But just remember that a census taker (or anyone performing a similar listing of people by going house-to-house) eventually has to turn around, will have to “come back” to get the neighbor who lives adjacent to Grandma’s back forty.
Genealogists with urban ancestors, whose addresses are often included in a census, can see that neighbors around the corner or whose property backs up against the back yard may be enumerated several pages after the person of interest. Those of us with rural ancestors often do not have specific addresses to trace.
Near neighbors can be several pages apart on a census. I was reminded of this when viewing aerial photographs of farms where I grew up. My parents farm was a half a mile from my Grandmother’s. The pictures of their farms were several pages from each other–simply because of how the pilot chose to fly.
Add Genealogy Tip of the Day–the book–to your bookshelf!
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