A recent revisitation of US census copies of long ago, especially the ones belonging to those deadbeats, who don't want to tell you where they came from and prefer to be the brick wall. I found a mistake in the 1920 Monroe County, NY, census, where they census taker wrote in the name of the community, then crossed it out, and properly filled in "Germany" in the section of "place of birth".
Enhancement of that part of the census provided the possible location. Further research in that community, primarily LDS, resulted in me squeesing out 31 sets of great-grand parents across the ancestor chart, with most ending in the early 1600's and 8 generations.
Lesson learned, go back, you may already have the answer, and try to remember, the smallest detail may produce the largest result.
Guenter in Michigan