Many of my ancestors settled in areas where they knew people–either family or neighbors from back home. Those connections, often combined with economic, political, or cultural changes, resulted in many of our ancestors moving. But the move might not have been in response to a neighbor or relative moving.
If your ancestor apparently picked up and moved to where he knew no one, is it possible he was responding to an advertisement? Speculators, land agents, promoted their projects and developments in a variety of ways–including newspapers.
It might have been an advertisement that caused your ancestor to pick up and move to where he knew no one.
One response
The “market” that made one of my family move was the economic market. He had a mill in NY and previously in MA. When the economy sank so did his business. He could not pay his debts, according to the sheriff’s ads looking for him. But he had moved on to the new territory of Michigan,