The Journeys of Three Multi-generational California Families Across Time and Place

Family history research can show how intertwined, yet diverse people acted in concert across the generations in a way that is more comprehensive than biography, and less overwhelming than more general accounts. In this chapter, I first introduce a migration and settlement model, which describes the factors that impact the spatial spread of descendants and ancestors of a particular person or group of people over multiple generations. I then analyze the descendants of three early migrants to California, Caleb Greenwood, Lilburn W. Boggs, and Clayton Winkler. The genealogical connections of these families are paramount in understanding the persistent “stickiness of place” by family members who tended to stay relatively close to the homestead even through succeeding settlement development stages of the region round about. The genealogical geographies that unify and localize these families through time and space help explain the settlement development of regions.