Generation after generation live, work, and grow in one small community, then all of a sudden you lose track of them. What happened? Did one member of the family just feel too closed in my a sudden increase in the local population? Were your relatives forced out of the location? Or was there a disaster that forced them to find another place to live?
If you read historical books/newspapers from the area where your relatives were, it might give you clues about what caused them to leave. Some events forced large portions of a population to find new homes. It could be that the Great Chicago Fire destroyed their home or that they left New York City in the wake of the cholera epidemic in 1848-1849 or perhaps the government forced them to leave their homes to give the lands to the Indians.
In today's times, families may have left their homes because of Hurricane Katrina, a tsunami, or because the economy forced them to find a job in another city. So if you are wondering where they went to try looking at the newspapers of the time and place. It is amazing what you can find!
