Richmond Neighbors, FAN Clubs & Borders
Widen one jurisdiction at a time.
Neighbor FAN clubs for Richmond County regularly include Anson, Scotland, Moore, Montgomery, Stanly. Heirs often own land across lines; bondsmen and burial neighbors ignore modern mental maps.
On every census page, abstract at least three neighboring households. On deeds, capture witnesses and adjoining owners. Those names are your next search terms in the neighboring hub—not random database queries.
When Richmond indexes are negative, move one decade and one neighbor at a time. Do not open five counties at once without a log; you will re-search the same gaps for years.
Border note: South Carolina sister-site searches often complete the same surnames—use a written border log rather than random hopping. Method article: Carolina border research log (for SC) and the migration guide for multi-state moves.
Practical log columns: person, decade, NC jurisdiction searched, neighbor/border jurisdiction searched, record class, result, next action. That is how mid-tier SC counties stay useful even when local series are thin.