Genealogy in Rural Communities

Tracing genealogy in rural communities is often convoluted. Having grown up in small towns and from a large Southern family, I often heard people say “Everyone is related to everyone somehow.” As complicated as these family trees can be, not every couple were blood first cousins, in fact, I would argue that very few were. Early in my research, I got stuck for a long time on a couple that had the same last name. The wife had to have a different maiden name, right? Upon further digging, though, it turned out that she was, indeed, first cousins with her husband, though possible only half first cousins. 

Knowing your ancestors live in such a community can be beneficial if you’re stuck on a brick wall. The FAN Club Principle utilizes friends, acquaintances, and neighbors near your target to help prove connections that might otherwise not be documented. I tried this method recently trying to understand how my relatives might have all known each other, but also to connect a random person living in the middle of all of them with the name last name, who didn’t appear on any other records that I could find. 

Here’s the census in question: 

Rebecca, wife of  Alonzo Swinford, family number 118, is my brick wall. I was curious to see if any of the relatives around this young couple might be related to her somehow. Already, I knew that Thomas Swinford and Alonzo Swinford were brothers, both sons of William Swinford. I was also curious to prove who Mackey Swinford was, as I had not yet seen that name among Thomas and Alonzo’s brothers, and Mackey’s age puts him right between Thomas and Alonzo. 

Household Number	Surname	First Name	Age	~Birth Year	Relationship to Head	Relationship Notes
113	Dunn	HW	31	1849	Self	HW Dunn here is a junior, father HW Dunn Sr, wife was Nancy, maiden name unknown
		ME	29	1851	Wife	Martha was the daughter of William C. Moore and Elizabeth Carlin. The Carlin family live nearby as well
	Weatherly	WH	12	1868	Step-Son	Son of Issac Weatherly and Martha. Issac was the son of Henry Weatherly and Delithia King .
	Dunn	Dora	8	1872	Daughter
		Lee	6	1874	Son
		Victoria	4	1876	Daughter
		Cornelius	1	1879	Son
	Riley	John	21	1859	Nephew
114	Fortune	AG	28	1852	Self
		Polina A	24	1856	Wife	Birth name Mary Ann Gooch, daughter of John G. Gooch and his first wife Lavina Brumbelow. John G. Gooch and his second wife Nancy Rains lives a few houses away, previous sheet.
		Johnnie	4	1876	Son
		Edgar	3	1877	Son
115	Grantham	JH	36	1844	Self
		Annah N	35	1845	Wife	Birth name Nancy Gooch, daughter of John G. Gooch and his first wife Lavina Brumbelow. John G. Gooch and his second wife Nancy Rains lives a few houses away, previous sheet.
		Annah L	8	1872	Daughter
		Mary C	7	1873	Daughter
		Richard L	5	1875	Son
		Susan A	4	1876	Daughter
		Lawvina F	0	1880	Daughter
116	Swinford	Mackey	21	1859	Self	The name is not among Thomas and Alonzo’s siblings in previous census years, but could be their brother Jackson Swinford.
		Polina	20	1860	Wife	Lina Arnold, married in 1877, daughter of JH Arnold and Cornelia unkown
		Lula	1	1879	Daughter
117	Swinford	Thomas	24	1856	Self	Son of William Swinford and Eloise? maiden name unknown
		Jane	24	1856	Wife
		Benjamin F	7	1873	Son
		James T	6	1874	Son
		George Lee	5	1875	Son
		Bessie M	3	1877	Daughter
		Lula B	0	1880	Daughter
118	Swinford	Alonzo	19	1861	Self	Son of William Swinford and Eloise? maiden name unknown
		Rebecca	20	1860	Wife	Rebecca Brumbelow, parents names unknown
119	Millsted	Joseph	78	1802	Self	First wife was Margaret Dewitt or Witty
		Margaret	30	1850	Wife	Married in 1877 – Margaret M Mitchell
	Mitchell	Hannah	12	1868	Step-Daughter
	McGowan	Thomas	30	1850	None
120	Sanders	John	37	1843	Self	Son of William F Sanders and Martha Houston. First wife may have been Eutoka McCalips
		Margert C	30	1850	Wife	Margart Catherine May – daughter of Daniel and Harriet May, maiden name unknown
		Eulola B	6	1874	Daughter
		Eutoka M	0	1880	Daughter
121	Rains	WHH	25	1855	Self	WIlliam HH married Zilpha Atkinson in 1878, which means his older two children are from a previous marraige. First wife may have been SJ Shelton. In 1870 he was living with John G Gooch and his second wife, Nancy Rains, along with a John Brumbelow, that John Brumbelow may have been John G. Gooch’s first wife’s brother or nephew.
		Zilpha M	23	1857	Wife
		Mary E	7	1873	Daughter
		William V	5	1875	Son
		James J	1	1879	Son
122	Rains	James F	24	1856	Self	In 1870, James was living with John G. Gooch and wife Nancy Rains. Might be Nancy’s nephew.
		Mary F	27	1853	Wife	Mary F Hunter, daughter of Mary Hunter, husband name tbd. Her sister married Daniel Brumbelow in 1874, who was the son of William Brumbelow and Elizabeth?
		William John H	3	1877	Son
		Mary J T	0	1880	Daughter
123	Brown	Lewis	52	1828	Self	Lewis’s wife may have been Catherine Gooch, daughter of John G. Gooch.
		Martha A	15	1865	Daughter
		Heskia	10	1870	Son
		Emma V	8	1872	Daughter
		William M	0	1880	Son

Just on this page alone, we can trace most of the neighbors are relatives through blood or marriage, resulting in a fairly wide family tree. Even though more research is necessary to prove the relationships and cite sources for them all, the tree provides a visual map of potential resources. I created this in Power Point.

Of the ten households, five can be connected through blood or marriage back to John G. Gooch. If we can determine the relationship of Rebecca Brumbelow to John Brumbelow, an additional three households could be connected!

Since Rebecca is a direct ancestor of mine, and my brother, mother, and I have all taken DNA tests through Ancestry.com, I’ve been able to confirm through DNA the connection to John Brumbelow, but the missing link is still to be confirmed.

At this time, I’ve not been able to confirm that connection, due to limited online resources. Next steps will include land records, early marriage records, and obscure death records for years between 1800 through 1850. However, many of these records may be lost, missing, or never recorded at all, and so, the search continues!