Those Darn County Lines!

Great-great Grandpa Thomas Hillman

Location, location, location!

They always tell us how important it is, but it takes on a whole new meaning to genealogists.

All my life, I knew that my great-grandmother, Carrie, grew up in Moores Hill, Indiana. It is a little town on the west side of Dearborn County.

But, It was very perplexing to me that it was hard to find Carrie, and her family, on census records.

So, I decided to put my sleigh cap on, and do some detective work.

I started with the most recent census records that I could find under her parents' names, Thomas and Anna Hillman. So, I began with the 1920 census. I found them almost immediately within the town of Moores Hill.

This was an excellent beginning, but I knew it was only the beginning.  Thomas and Anna were much older. Carrie and most of her siblings were married, or at the least, already adults. I still understood that she had grown up in Moores Hill.

So, onwards to 1910.

Nowhere to be found in Dearborn County. I then decided to leave the county off of the search filters.

Bingo!! Found them...But right over the county line in Ripley County. Not only that, but I also found him there in 1900, 1870 and 1860.

Which means...? The most exciting part for me...

Breaking through a brick wall that has been there forever. I had a first name with a question mark for his father's name. Now, I had mother, father and brothers.

Moral of this story...If you have a brick wall, you might want to look in the neighboring areas. In some places, just living across the road could mean that you live in a different county as your neighbor.