Neighbor Back Search

So, just so you know. This blog will be updated more in the Summer when I actually have time to sit down and do what I love. Not that anyone ever reads this blog, but...maybe someday. So, to keep you interested I'll tell a little something I learned over winter break a few months ago.

So, I was trying to find out a little more about Louis Holzgrafe, son of William Ferdinand. The family could be found quite easily in the 1870 census, but I couldn't find them anywhere anytime before then for the life of me. I knew that they must have been in the US because in 1900, one of the family reported that they immigrated around 1845. So, I looked and looked and looked. I tried every possible misspelling of their surname possible. Nothing. Then, I had this brilliant flash of revelation and inspiration. I was going to perform the first neighbor back search. I found a few families who lived near by the Holzgrafes including the Sipe family. The Sipes were their neighbors in 1870 as well as 1880 so it just might be possible to find the Sipes (an easier surname to read and write) in the 1860 census. I did the search and, sure enough, I found Mr. Sipe and his family and just a few doors down were not only the William Ferdinand Holzgrafe family, but also the family of his brother, Henry August Holzgrafe. To my surprise, there was little Louis Holzgrafe at age 17. The rumors were true, Henry Louis did have a brother named Louis. Of course I tried the neighbor back search method to try to find them in 1850, but a lot had changed from 1850 to 1860 in Vanderburg, Indiana. And so the search continues. Feel free to share your stories.