Prior to today’s modern transportation conveniences, families often lived close together. It was very common for families to migrate in groups with their cousins and friends and, upon arrival in the new location, take up land in the same area. It was also common for these neighboring families to intermarry. If your brick wall is related to tracking the country of origin of your ancestor, then you may find the answers by researching his/her neighbors. Deeds, mortgages and other land records can also hold a myriad of answers to family relationships. A neighboring family may turn out to be the parents of your female ancestor with the unknown maiden name. Fathers often gave land as a deed of gift as part of a daughter’s dowry or sold it to their sons for a trivial sum. Family members may also be listed as witnesses on land deeds. It is a common practice among genealogists when recording census records to record the family under investigation and six families on either side of them. While they may seem unrelated now, you may find something in the future to indicate otherwise.

Researching the neighbors of Henrietta and Mack did not provide me with any clues as to Henrietta’s parents, but I did find quite a lot of CRISP and OWENS (a related family) ancestors among the neighbors. They did indeed move in groups and land records have been the most important record in my toolkit for keeping them all straight. The lady Mack married after the death of Henrietta was even the daughter of one of their neighbors.

For more information:

Land & Property Records
Learn how to research your ancestors using deeds and other land records; learn to decipher old deeds including how to understand property descriptions; locate creeks and other geographic features named in deeds; search huge online databases of land title records and more.

Emigration, Immigration & Naturalization
Online ships passenger lists, passport records, border crossing records, and more. Plus lessons and how-to articles on locating your immigrant ancestor and information and resources for U.S. and Canada naturalization and citizenship records.

Geographic Place Names
Information on places, features, and areas around the world including several geographic search engines to help you locate place names, cemeteries, roads, tunnels, and other features mentioned in old documents.