I have hit a dead end with German Near (born abt 1818 in NY, died abt 1900 in IL). He doesn't appear on a census (that I can find) until 1860. My biggest challenge is in restricting results that come back. Since his last name is a common word I am getting tons of articles that include something along the lines of "near German Flats". I also think there's a pretty good chance that the name was originally "Neher" or something similar but not exactly "Near". Can anyone give some search tips and/or how to find out when/if the name evolved? Thanks