Familiarize Yourself with your Ancestors Neighbors

Get to know your ancestors neighbors. What where their names, and what roll did they play in your ancestors life.

How to get started, in the last blog I make a spreadsheet of everyone in the 1870 census that where five pages before and after my ancestor. Then I was thinking what was the path that the census taker took to record every household. I found a 1872 plat map of the county that I  have in question. That is Grafton township, McHenry County, Illinois. And I took the 1870 federal census and the plat map and try to lay out the census taker trails. To my surprise the census taker went from West to East for a few section lines, and before I knew he was traveling down South, then he jump back East or West maybe to catch the family at home that was not their previously. Then I was thinking then how do you know if five pages before and after you ancestor in the census would be far enough. So I took a compass and made a two radius circle around my ancestors home. Two miles on horse back would take about 30 minutes one way. Farmers always had a lot of work to do, I don't think they would travel very far because of the work that needed to be done that day. I compare these names along with the names that was compose from the census.  And I found a lot of names that where not included in the census list.  Remember not all the names on the plat map, meant that the owner lived on that land, the land might of been rented out.

Now, we have a good list of names to go by to see if any of these names show up in our ancestors papers.

Cluster Genealogy has Been Proven to Give Results.

Cluster Genealogy Has Been Proven to Give Great Results. 

How do you know when it is time to cluster your ancestor. When you have exhaust all the traditional documents; birth, death, marriage, land records, tax records, probate or will etc, that does not give you that direct answer you are seeking. It is time to do some clustering, or other wise known as FAN Club. Elizabeth Shown Mill came up with that acronym for Friends, Associates and Neighbors. While we are doing clustering lets not forget about the collateral lines, for instance, siblings, aunts and uncles. Below is a list of suggestions where our search can start, no particular order.

FAN Club

• Birth records
• Baptism records
• Business Associates
• Cemetery
• Church records
• County History
• Court Records
• Cousins next door
• Co-workers
• Crime & Prisoners & Punishments
• Death records
• Deeds
• DNA test
• Family stories in newspapers
• Federal and State census
• Finance transaction  
• Friends
• Immigration Records
• In-laws
• Plat map
• Marriage record 
• Mercantile store
• Military records
• Naturalization
• Newspapers
• Physician 
• Ship records
• Societies 
• Sponsors
• Tax records
• Know the community - which names are repeated again again in the area where your ancestors are living. They are probably connected in some way.

So, you have already collected these documents and the answer you are seeking is not there. Lets look deeper into each document and see what is indirect. 

Get to know the records well enough that you can spot the name of the clerk who witnessed every other marriage, or the neighbor who took everyone to court.  When you look for your ancestors record, few several records before and after their record in the same source. When checking the census record check several pages before and after you ancestor, most likely you will find some in-laws or other family members living close by.

Find a plat map close to the census year that you have in question. Follow how the  enumerator went to each home, because  the family that  is listed next to your ancestors does not mean they lived next door. Searching five pages before and after your ancestor will put the family in about five mile radius, 640 acres equals a square mile. It takes a rider on horse back to travel 4-5 miles in one hour. I wouldn't think our ancestor would travel any farther then that to visit someone. That would be two hour trip not counting the time they spent at their destination.

It takes a community to build an ancestor. Have to keep in mind our ancestors did not live in a bubble. Our ancestors travel together with family, associates and neighbors. Very rarely our ancestors arrived in an area completely alone. They migrated in groups across the world or the countryside.

Now, that I have got your attention and you are all pump up lets get started in finding some hidden clues to break down that brick wall.

Steps in Starting your Clustering

Build a family tree including the collateral lines. And have it post public on a genealogy web site like, Ancestry, MyHeritage or other sites. Included all the documents that you have found on that ancestor. Make a habit  to copy the source in case you need to go back and look at other documents recorded at the same time your ancestors was..

Going back and looking at the story of my ancestor Johann Schmitt who was born in 1834 in Bavaria. I know at least he was from Bavaria or was born there because of what his children had put on their death certificate and also what was listed in the census, 1870, 1880, 1900-1940 and also his obit mention he was from Germany. Johann Schmitt is listed in the 1870 census by 1875 he had passed away. Have not been able to find him on the 1860 census, so I assume that he came to America after 1860.

My first step is to copy the five pages before and after his family in the 1870 census to find his FAN club. The easiest way to do this is to use a spread sheet. Copy the information from the census, of where and when the census was taken. When you pull up a census in ancestry.com, at the bottom of the screen you have an icon on the right side with two heads along with an equal "=" sign. click on that icon and down below will pop up an index with all the names type out from that page. Select all an copy it to a spread sheet. Make one extra column on the left hand side where you will input the page number.

Once, you have copy all the pages into a spreadsheet, highlight the row below the the column headings. Click View in excel spreadsheet, click freeze panes, freeze panes, this will keep the column headings stationary while you can scroll through the pages. Very helpful hint. If you want to search just for a certain surname click Home, Sort and, Filter than Filter. This will put a drop down box in each column. Click on the drop down box on the surname column, Click Select all to turn it off, scroll down and select Smith.

Johann Schmitt & Smith Families
1870 Federal Census Grafton twp, McHenry Co., Illinois
28 June 1890 Post Office Huntley Station

Page	Family #	Surname	Given Name	Age	Birth Year	Gender	Race	Occupation	Birthplace
9	59	Smith	George	53	1817	Male	White	Farmer	Vermont
9	59	Smith	Julia	42	1828	Female	White	Keeping House	Canada
9	59	Smith	George	21	1849	Male	White		Canada
9	59	Smith	Julia	13	1857	Female	White		Illinois
14	94	Smith	John	35	1835	Male	White	Farmer	Bavaria / Bayern
14	94	Smith	Mary	30	1840	Female	White	Keeping House	Bavaria / Bayern
14	94	Smith	Joseph	3	1867	Male	White		Illinois
14	94	Smith	Adam	2	1868	Male	White		Illinois
14	94	Smith	Andrew	12-Jan	1869	Male	White		Illinois
19	132	Smith	Herbert	18	1852	Male	White	Farm Laborer	New York

The family that is in question is shaded in blue. You probably notice that John's surname is spelled as
Smith instead of Schmitt. That leaves the Smith family that lives on page 9, which is five pages before my ancestor. Then there is a single man living five pages after my ancestor most likely there is no connection. I will table these names until I gather other information, before I start searching these other Smith line. A plat map could help me decide how far they lived from each other. Let's check out the neighbors that lived next door.

Johann Schmitt and his Neighbors  

Page before and after John's Schmitt's family

1870 Federal Census Grafton twp, McHenry Co., Illinois

28 June 1890 Post Office Huntley Station

Page #	Family #	Surname	Given Name	Age	Birth Year	Gender	Race	Occupation	Birth Place
13	87	Brannon	James	84	1786	Male	White		Ireland
13	87	Brannon	Elizabeth	70	1800	Female	White		Ireland
13	87	Conally	James	30	1840	Male	White	Farm Laborer	Ireland
13	87	Welch	Thomas	11	1859	Male	White		Illinois
13	88	Costigan	Martin	64	1806	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
13	88	Costigan	Bridget	55	1815	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
13	88	Powers	Ellen	15	1855	Female	White		Illinois
13	88	Ryan	Mike	13	1857	Male	White		Illinois
13	88	Gleswet	Frank			Male	White	Farm Laborer	Ohio
13	89	Malone	Cornelius	38	1832	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
13	89	Malone	Julia	37	1833	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
13	89	Malone	John	10	1860	Male	White		Illinois
13	89	Malone	Edward	8	1862	Male	White		Illinois
13	89	Malone	Lizzie	7	1863	Female	White		Illinois
13	89	Malone	Ellen	5	1865	Female	White		Illinois
13	89	Malone	Willie	4	1866	Male	White		Illinois
13	89	Malone	Cornelus	2	1868	Male	White		Illinois
13	89	Malone	Julia	12-Feb	1869	Female	White		Illinois
13	90	Costigan	Patrick	55	1815	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
13	90	Costigan	Margret	42	1828	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
13	90	Costigan	John	24	1846	Male	White		Ireland
13	90	Costigan	Eliza	14	1856	Female	White		Illinois
13	90	Costigan	Martin	12	1858	Male	White		Illinois
13	90	Costigan	Willie	10	1860	Male	White		Illinois
13	90	Costigan	James	7	1863	Male	White		Illinois
13	90	Costigan	Catherine	6	1864	Female	White		Illinois
13	90	Costigan	Patrick			Male	White		Illinois
13	90	Carrol	Henry	16	1854	Male	White	Farm Laborer	New York
13	91	Garry	Patrick	50	1820	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
13	91	Garry	Mary	35	1835	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
13	91	Garry	Jane	14	1856	Female	White		Illinois
13	91	Garry	Rosan	11	1859	Female	White		Illinois
13	91	Garry	John	6	1864	Male	White		Illinois
13	91	Garry	Patrick	4	1866	Male	White		Illinois
13	91	Garry	Margret	12-May	1869	Female	White		Illinois
13	91	Karper	James	40	1830	Male	White	Farm Laborer	Ireland
13	92	Gannon	Patrick	45	1825	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
13	92	Gannon	Winnie	37	1833	Female	White	Keeping House	Pennsylvania
13	92	Gannon	Kate	17	1853	Female	White		Illinois
13	92	Gannon	Thomas	15	1855	Male	White		Illinois
14	92	Gannon	James	13	1857	Male	White		Illinois
14	92	Gannon	John	10	1860	Male	White		Illinois
14	92	Gannon	Moriah	8	1862	Female	White		Illinois
14	92	Gannon	Rosan	6	1864	Female	White		Illinois
14	92	Finnigan	Mary	78	1792	Female	White		Ireland
14	93	Gannon	James	70	1800	Male	White	Farm Laborer	Ireland
14	93	Gannon	Ann	52	1818	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
14	94	Smith	John	35	1835	Male	White		Bavaria / Bayern
14	94	Smith	Mary	30	1840	Female	White		Bavaria / Bayern
14	94	Smith	Joseph	3	1867	Male	White		Illinois
14	94	Smith	Adam	2	1868	Male	White		Illinois
14	94	Smith	Andrew	12-Jan	1869	Male	White		Illinois
14	94	Tomroff	Annie	14	1856	Female	White		Bavaria / Bayern
14	95	Byernes	James	50	1820	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
14	95	Byernes	Rose	40	1830	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
14	95	Byernes	Mike	25	1845	Male	White		Illinois
14	95	Byernes	Mary	11	1859	Female	White		Illinois
14	95	Byernes	James	9	1861	Male	White		Illinois
14	95	Byernes	John	7	1863	Male	White		Illinois
14	95	Byernes	William	12-Aug	1869	Male	White		Illinois
14	96	Engel	Lewis	27	1843	Male	White	Farmer	Mecklenburg
14	96	Engel	Hellen	25	1845	Female	White	Keeping House	Mecklenburg
14	96	Engel	John	5	1865	Male	White		Illinois
14	96	Engel	Fred	2	1868	Male	White		Illinois
14	96	Long	Fred	12	1858	Male	White		Mecklenburg
14	97	Tugenhauer	John	32	1838	Male	White	Farmer	Pomeraina / Pommen
14	97	Tugenhauer	Gertrude	30	1840	Female	White	Keeping House	Pomeraina / Pommen
14	97	Tugenhauer	Mary			Female	White		Pomeraina / Pommen
14	97	Grantz	John	57	1813	Male	White		Pomeraina / Pommen
14	97	Grantz	Betsy	57	1813	Female	White		Pomeraina / Pommen
14	98	Croswell	H	38	1832	Male	White	Farmer	New York
14	98	Croswell	Mary J	35	1835	Female	White	Keeping House	New York
14	98	Croswell	Ella	14	1856	Female	White		New York
14	98	Croswell	Emilus	10	1860	Male	White		New York
14	98	Croswell	Mary	8	1862	Female	White		New York
14	98	Croswell	Hattie	5	1865	Female	White		New York
14	98	Croswell	John	2	1868	Male	White		New York
14	98	Croswell	Lewis	12-Sep	1869	Male	White		New York
14	98	Green	Libbie	21	1849	Female	White		New York
14	98	Odelle	Charles	23	1847	Male	White	Laborer	Pennsylvania
15	99	Donohue	John	48	1822	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
15	99	Donohue	Johana	47	1823	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
15	99	Donohue	Dan	19	1851	Male	White		Illinois
15	99	Donohue	Margret	15	1855	Female	White		Illinois
15	99	Donohue	Kate	14	1856	Female	White		Illinois
15	99	Donohue	John	13	1857	Male	White		Illinois
15	99	Donohue	James	4	1866	Male	White		Illinois
15	100	Henry	John	52	1818	Male	White	Carpenter	Pennsylvania
15	100	Henry	Jane	38	1832	Female	White	Keeping House	England
15	100	Dunn	Elizabeth	12	1858	Female	White		England
15	100	Dunn	Alice	7	1863	Female	White		England
15	100	Dunn	Mary Jane	5	1865	Female	White		England
15	101	Henniman	Henry	45	1825	Male	White	Farmer	Hannover / Hanover
15	101	Henniman	Caroline	35	1835	Female	White	Keeping House	Hannover / Hanover
15	101	Henniman	Caroline	15	1855	Female	White		Illinois
15	101	Henniman	Henry	10	1860	Male	White		Illinois
15	101	Henniman	Sophia	7	1863	Female	White		Illinois
15	101	Henniman	Johana	4	1866	Female	White		Illinois
15	101	Kern	John	30	1840	Male	White	Laborer	Mecklenburg
15	102	Zenk	John	48	1822	Male	White	Farmer	Bavaira / Bayern
15	102	Zenk	Margret	41	1829	Female	White	Keeping House	Bavaria / Bayern
15	102	Zenk	Peter			Male	White		Bavaria / Bayern
15	102	Zenk	George	18	1852	Male	White		Bavaria / Bayern
15	102	Zenk	John	12	1858	Male	White		Bavaria / Bayern
15	102	Zenk	Johana	8	1862	Female	White		Bavaria / Bayern
15	102	Zenk	Nicholas	8	1862	Male	White		Bavaria / Bayern
15	102	Zenk	Johana	10	1860	Female	White		Wisconsin
15	102	Zenk	William	6	1864	Male	White		Wisconsin
15	102	Zenk	Zachariah	4	1866	Male	White		Wisconsin
15	102	Zenk	Bankratz			Male	White		Wisconsin
15	103	Conelly	Mark	35	1835	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
15	103	Conelly	Mary	31	1839	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
15	103	Conelly	James	10	1860	Male	White		New York
15	103	Conelly	Nettie	8	1862	Female	White		New York
15	103	Conelly	Ida	6	1864	Female	White		Illinois
15	103	Conelly	Rosan	4	1866	Female	White		Illinois
15	103	Conelly	Mary Jane	2	1868	Female	White		Illinois
15	104	Conelly	Owen	33	1837	Male	White	Farmer	Ireland
15	104	Conelly	Margart	25	1845	Female	White	Keeping House	Ireland
15	104	Conelly	John	3	1867	Male	White		Illinois

Looking at the families that are shaded, Smith and the Malones. Smith's oldest son Joseph married Ellen Malone. And Annie Tomroff is a sister to Mary Smith. Here we have a spelling of Mary's maiden name.