Remember that Butterbur said that people were moving North up[ the Greenway (perhaps to escape Saruman?) before the War of the Ring.
Whoever these fugitives were, they could have been joined later by the pardoned Dunlendings and perhaps even some repentant 'ruffians' expelled from the Shire. I also wonder if the Beornings might have started to expand west of the Misty Mountains.
As for the rangers, their stronghold was South of Rivendell in the angle between the Loudwater and the Hoarwell. How many people lived there is, of course, a matter for speculation.
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Rumil of Coedhirion
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