Hobbits?

[Inziladun]

In the Prologue to FOTR, J.R.R.T. offers only this :

....Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. ....What exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered. The beginning of Hobbits lies far back in the Elder Days that are now lost and forgotten. Only the Elves still preserve any records of that vanished time, and their traditions are concerned almost entirely with their own history, in which Men appear seldom and Hobbits are not mentioned at all.

So, the Elves apparently recorded most of the histories of the First Age, specifically the Elves of Beleriand, and Hobbits don't seem to be anywhere about. Very sensible of them, really, since Morgoth didn't make for a very good neighbor.

I wonder if the Dwarves weren't possibly the first of the 'speaking peoples' to come into contact with them, as they seem throughout The Hobbit and LOTR to take hobbits for granted, whereas most others seem to regard them as legends, or such.