Land Ownership

Dear Readers,

Throughout all history the ownership of land has provided the basis for
economic and cultural development. Wars have been, and are fought for the
control of acreage, whether jungle, Tibetan highlands or desert.

Without land one faced starvation at worst, or serfdom to a landowner and
perpetual servility. Is it any wonder that ancestors risked their lives in
order to say with authority, “This Land Is Mine!”

Long before the study of economics, and the relationship of overpopulation
to famine and war was studied. It was a fact of life that many more
children must be born than were expected to live to adulthood. The need to
relocate was recognized to follow the food supply. Today we still have the
need to relocate, for those people still see opportunity, rather than
meeting the challenges and more difficult road of “Bloom where ye was
planted.”

In tracing your ancestors, you may be surprised to see one family who
rooted immediately, and have remained in the same area for generations.
Another family may seem to perpetually follow the frontier, much as Daniel
Boone did. When he knew he had a neighbor it was time to move. In your
research, their propensity to “seat” or “move” will dictate to large part
your investigation methods and sources.