I used the GNIS place name index about 8 years ago for an unpublished "for
my own [weirdo] amusement only" quantitative genealogical study of Moore family
migration patterns across the US. I first searched for and extracted every
place name incorporating the word "Moore." This search was motivated by the
reasonable assumption that geographical place names are often (not
inevitably!) based in the initial settlers within a region. The results
reflected the
widely held genealogical assertion that Moore families settled most commonly
in the southeastern United States. I then used one of those USA Phone Book
disks to enumerate the then-current location of every Moore with a listed
phone number in the United States. I next compared that distribution to that
of
the 'historical record' as reflected by early place names. The primary net
result was the observation that the majority of Moores continue to reside in
the regions of their earliest settlement.
Roger Moore
