Vanessa WoodI’m pleased to announce that my latest research article, “Five Families from Hawkins County, Tennessee: Their 1850s Migration to Pulaski County, Kentucky,” has been published in the Tennessee Genealogical Society‘s Ansearchin’ News.
My search for one person–virtually a needle in a haystack–stumbled upon a mass migration in the 1850s.
East Tennessee genealogy presents unique challenges—missing federal censuses before 1830, scattered marriage records, and statewide vital statistics not required until 1914. This article demonstrates how proximity analysis and migration patterns can reveal family connections when traditional sources fall short. The FAN Principle1 applied to a Hawkins County, Tennessee neighborhood shows more than thirty connected people from te Lawson, Roberts, Simpson and Whitis families migrated to form a neighborhood in Pulaski County, Kentucky.
Research tip: Don’t overlook consecutive dwelling numbers in census records—they often reveal family clusters that traditional name searches might miss!
FEATURED IMAGE: Vanessa Wood, “Westward Ho Weather Vane,” photograph, 17 April 2025.
- For introduction to the FAN Principle see, Elizabeth Shown Mills, “QuickLesson 11: Identity Problems & the FAN Principle,” Evidence Explained (https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/quicklesson-11-identity-problems-fan-principle)
