Where can I find more information about Wiles Family in Halifax, Virginia?

Question

I've run into a dead end in researching two of my ancestors, Ransom Wiles (b. 1793 ) and Smith L. Wiles (b. 1810 -- I've also seen him listed as Smith B. Wiles/Wyles). I'm looking for resources on their siblings and ancestors. Here's what I have:

Smith Wiles married Elizabeth Darden (b. 1819), and they had a son Thomas A. Wiles (b. 1838). Ransom Wiles married a woman named Sarah/ Sallie (1809-1866, daughter of James & Jane), and they had a daughter Louisa A. Wiles (b. 1843). Both families lived in Virginia, but I'm not sure how they connected. Thomas and Louisa married in Person, North Carolina in 1868. They had at least six children in North Carolina.

I've searched the basics: ancestry.com, familysearch.org, rootsweb.com. I've tried to find more info on local sites to no avail.

Answer 1

http://genforum.genealogy.com/wiles/  There are 5 messages that have to do with Ransom Wiles at this site

Answer 2

Did some sleuthing in a couple of my books, found a bit of info.

Suggest you do some sleuthing in the Ransom family lines.

If I can Email you, I'll send you what bits I found. Wiles/Wyles were in the colonies fairly early.

Note your Email is not available; will copy from books and post here later. This is going to take a while, and in the meantime...

have you checked Maryland?  Just one of those (incurable) hunches.  Also, different spellings?

Answer 3

Nearly EVERTHING in genealogy comes down to specifics, and for you, thankfully, you gave some good specifics.

First.. the records needed are pre 1850, meaning the "basic" sources (or online ones) are unlikely to touch this.. unless someone else has worked the same family.  1850, you probably know, is the first one where the census tells you who is living with who.  Prior to this 'cutoff', your main sources will be church or court documents, tax lists, so forth. Wills or probate files are nice. Land records can be critical.  These are records that are seldom online in original form. Some MIGHT be transcribed, but that is luck.

Your other concern is very particular to this exact area. Just using the 1700s as a general frame.. what you have is settlement patterns, along with COUNTY formations.  For example.. Halifax was created in 1756 FROM Lunenburg. Down the line, you have Pittsylvania and Franklin cutting off. The gist of what I am saying is that a record may be found of a man in Lunenburg's 'parent' county.. nothing in Lunenberg records, a note in Halifax.  And it is possible that the person never physically moved from where he was in the first place.

This is tough to grasp sometimes.  Imagine that you, today live in Illinois. Someone gets irritated, and decides to declare that the south part of the state is now independent, and called "Illnewstate".  Your land now is in a different jurisdiction.  If this repeatedly happens.. your family records over the years, will be in different files.

Virginia is particularly notorious for this concept, even up to 1860s, when they created West Virginia.

I haven't looked yet for your Wiles.. I just wanted to give you some idea of the change in thinking that you need, going into early Virginia work.  You CAN find records, but it depends on how much you are willing to go beyond the internet.