You’ll note that our name has been changed.  There were no dissenting opinions.

Special Greetings today.   We are supremely fortunate!  Besides the arrival of spring to brighten our lives after an unpleasant winter, we have the good fortune of welcoming Giulia Aubry (I call her Julia) to our effort.

Julia is a student at the University of Rome and has chosen to write her dissertation on Taliaferro women!  What an undertaking.  She found us through the web site.  We have an extraordinary opportunity to tell Julia about the Taliaferro women of 1700-1900.  At the same time, Julia is already at work looking for information about our Tagliaferro family in Italy.  Below, somewhat paraphrased, are the contents of two early messages from Julia. Her English is outstanding.  How I wish my Italian was even a fraction as good.

In honor of Julia and her project, TT will inaugurate a new section called Taliaferro/Toliver Daughters.  Please dig deep and send in biographies about the Taliaferro/Toliver daughters  -  historical relevance, tradition, whatever you can contribute to Julia.  This will be a memorable feature for all of us.   Here is information sent to us by Julia:

GUILIA AUBRY (giulia28@hotmail.com)

***Dear Joyce  -  I'm so happy to have received your e-mail and you have to know that for me is a great honour and pleasure to be in your list.  You're right for my name in English. Your’s is the right pronunciation and spelling.

Let me talk again about my project. I'm pointing my attention to the women of  the Taliaferro Family 'cause I've found really interesting this family's history.  When I'll finish my work I'll  certainly send you a copy with my translation (I apoligise since now for it) in English.

But in this moment, even if I have a good information and material about the story of the family, I don't have so much about history of single Taliaferro women. I'm searching or something  about Elizabeth Egglestone Taliaferro, but I'd like to receive something more on the Taliaferro women in general.

Do you know someone who would be able to tell me the story of their female Taliaferro ancestor during the XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries (1700-1900)? I will be  so grateful to you if you'll try to help me.

On my side I'm trying to find more information about Bartholomew Taliaferro in Italy and on his relatives. I will contact a famous scholar in Venice and then I'll give to you all that I am able to find, translated into English of course...

Well I have to go now, but before leaving I have to say that I'm really happy to be in a little part of your big and beautiful family even if  I'm not so lucky to be a Taliaferro (maybe some day I will be... I'm joking  of course). And I'm so happy to stay in touch with people so kind like you. I hope we'll be stay in touch for the future.

--  Julia’s second message:

***I have read every issue of Taliaferro Times of the first and the second volume.  I really think their story is great. I have some difficulties beginning to write 'cause there are too many interesting subjects, but I'm trying something everyday. I think the Italian people will fall in love with a so particular family that have had its origins in our country.

For this point I have to say to you that only in my city, Roma, there are almost twenty Tagliaferros. I have noticed that many more are the Taliaferris, but I don't think they're related with the Taliaferros. I will continue my research all over the Italy and I'm waiting something more from the historical library in Venice and Florence.

I'm very happy to receive your material. As you know I'm working on the life of the women in the Taliaferro family even if it's more difficult. I need also materials on the men that I've seen in the Taliaferro Times, are really important in the Virginia history. For the women I think it will be useful for me to read something on the women of the colonial Virginia in the XVII and XVIII centuries. Do you know some books on this issue that will help me in my research? I will be so grateful to you if you'll help me even in this part of my work (surely I will dedicate to you my work 'cause you're the most important source for me....).

Another thing (I hope I won't be bore you with all my requests), did you find the address of that scholar who is working about Italian immigration in colonial Virginia. I'd like to read his work or to corresponde with him.  [Note:  Julia is referring here to someone in Charlottesville, connected to the University of Virginia, I believe, who is researching the early Italian families who established the vineyards there.  I have not been able to find his name again.  If anyone has corresponded with this gentleman, I hope they’ll pass along the information to Julia - and to the rest of us.]
 
Kisses from Italy.
- - - - - - - - - -
TODD WHITE (todds@shentel.net) sends a nice invitation to the Toliver group that originated in the North Carolina mountains.  Thanks so much, Todd. I’m sure some will take advantage of this.  Below are a number of county web sites for which Todd is familiar with.  I think he’s manager of the Ashe County site.

 NCGenWeb:  Ashe County
 VAGenWeb:  Page, Rappahannock and  Shenandoah Counties
 WVGenWeb:  Monongalia County
 WorldGenWeb:  Vatican City    http://www.geocities.com/heartland/2521/

NEW MEMBERS

JIMMY C. STRIBLING (jcstribling@juno.com) is another recruit of Elreeta Weathers’ and another author.  Welcome, Jimmy, and thanks to Elreeta for continuing her care an nourishment of TT.

****Thanks for the Taliaferro News. Was put in contact with this by Elreeta Weathers.

I was born in Calhoun County MS on March 21, 1936.  I graduated from Mississippi State University in 1959 with two degrees---one in civil engineering and the other in business adm. All my work has been in surveying and mapping (a field that my Stribling line has been in since at least the mid 1700s in Prince William Co., VA---which I did not know until I got involved in genealogy). I was employed by the U. S. Navy Oceanographic Office from 1959-1982.  I traveled the world in my work---well over 100 countries.  My last five years of employment was with the USDA Forest Service. This employment was in Arlington, VA.  While there I came up with the disease called "genealogy."  This was a great place for me to start genealogy as several of my lines had lived in northern VA and MD(the part that later became Washington, D. C.).  I took early retirement in 1987 so that I could do genealogy full time as a hobby, and now live in Albuquerque NM.

My major project for the past four years is the researching the military history and genealogy of the 153 soldiers who served with Co. D, 31st MS Infantry.  Sorry, no Taliaferro in this unit!  I hope to get the results to the publisher by late summer.  Since beginning this project, much new data has surfaced (and information like Taliaferro Times).

 I am looking forward to having more time to update my  own family lines. My Stribling ancestor line is Ollie Lee , James Franklin, Flavious Josephus, Mark Mitchell, Thomas, 111, Thomas, 11 and Thomas, 1.  Thomas Stribling,1 was married to Elizabeth Taliaferro, daughter of Francis and Elizabeth Catlett Taliaferro.
- - - - - -  - -
JAMES C. - CHRIS - KLINEDINST (colklink6@juno.com) raises our old nemesis again as he wonders about the accuracy of some well-known and oft-quoted resources.  All discussions which will help resolve, whether yea or nay, these resources will be appreciated.

***Appreciated reading your 4/8/98 edition of TALIAFERRO TIMES.  My gggg-grandfather Maximilian Berryman married Mary Taliaferro, but his second wife, Hannah Batteley, is my ancestor.  So hope you don't mind an "outsider" crashing the Taliaferro party.  There appears to be no dedicated family history of the Berrymans of Virginia, so I am doing just that.  But I do need help.
 
I have desperately been searching for substantiation of the claims in many secondary sources, such as Willie Catherine Ivey's book, Burke's "Landed Gentry", and DAR magazine articles concerning Berryman origins.  I can find no documented proof of the following:

        (1) That arms were granted to the Berryman family in 1575  (arms were25 usually granted to an individual or an organization, (i.e. a guild or a city)
        (2) That John Berryman married a Miss Tucker of Virginia
        (3) That John was the the founder of the family in America and the first to immigrate, settling in Westmoreland County, Virginia in 1654.
        (4) That John had only one son, Benjamin.

There is documented proof of John Berryman of Dunsford being armigerous, and that he was the son of John Berryman. However, his mother was not Eleanor Dare, as we read so often.  The son John did marry Elizabeth Fulford, the daughter of Thomas Fulford, who I do not believe was knighted as Sir Thomas.  I am certain that John Berryman the Immigrant did not settle in Westmoreland County, Virginia in 1654. His son Benjamin married Elizabeth (Newton) Gilson, the daughter of John Newton the Immigrant and Rose, his last wife, believed to have been his fourth.   Incidentally, the Newton lineage goes far beyond Robert Challons, although I don't have much first-hand knowledge of  that line.

        Many Devonshire records were lost in the Blitz of Exeter in 1942, making research there difficult.  I have not been able to find a scintilla of proof that John (de Berrie) and Elizabeth Berryman had a grandson John who emigrated, let alone a son who could have been the immigrants father.

        Mrs. Kate Berryman, wife of the famous cartoonist Clifford, earlier this century had much research done in England.  Her daughter Florence, now deceased, held the family papers, which could include material no longer available due to the Blitz.

        Hopefully, one or more TT readers can shed some light on these historical discrepancies, and perhaps have some knowledge of how to access the Clifford Berryman research, or even Willie Catherine Ivey's sources.

Thanks very much for taking the time to plod through my ramblings.

 QUERIES

MIKE AND DIANE MIDKIFF (mikemidkiff@email.msn.com)

*** I live in Washington State with my husband Mike and our four children.

Mike is descended from Jesse Toliver (1756-1838) and his wife Frances "Frankey" Stamper (1767-1854) via the following line:

Jesse TOLIVER and Frances Stamper23 > Starling TOLIVER and Millie Ann SPURLING  > Jacob TOLIVER and Matilda HIGGINS > Pleasant Clark TOLLIVER and Senie COLLINS > Margie Ethel TOLLIVER and John Franklin MIDKIFF ... (his great-grandparents).

I am very interested in all discussions about Jesse Toliver's parentage.  I don't believe the often quoted assertion that he is the son of Charles Taliaferro and Ann Kemp, as they would have been too old to be his parents. Perhaps his grandparents?

Anyone who is descended from Jesse Toliver, or who has information on him, please feel free to contact me.  I have quite a bit of ancestral information on Frances Stamper for those who are interested.

RESPONSES

DARCY TOLIVER-NOONKESTER (angelwings@mindspring.com)

****I was delighted & surprised to see my cousin John Chapel as one of the new folks! John & I are cousins on two sides of our family, the Chappells, as well as the Tolliver/Taliaferro's!
 
And I cast my vote for the name change...after all, it would represent both sides of this illustrous & obviously very abundant family! (well, mine is spelled with two LL's)Welcome aboard John & all the other new 'cousins'!
- - - - - - - - - - -  -
BARBARA BILLINGSLEY (barbara@surfsouth.com) responds with information about
the Hardins, per a request in the last issue.  Many thanks, Barbara.

****In my Hardin genealogy I have Thomas Hardin born in Wiltshire England. His son was John Hardin. John's son was Martin who was born in 1645 in London England and was married on March 05, 1671 to Madeline DuSauchoy, the daughter of Marcus DuSauchoy and Elizabeth Rossignol on New York. On March 26, 1681 (some say November 26, 1681) they had a son, Mark who was born in Staten Island, NY.  Mark married Mary Hogue, the daughter of William Hogue and Barbara Hume, between 1700 and 1709 in Virginia.  They had a son, Henry, in 1710.  Henry married Judith Lynch in Virginia in 1737/8.  Henry's daughter, Mary, was born in 1738 and married Dr. John Taliaferro in 1755.

I have more Hardin information including typed copies of wills if anyone wants them I will share the information.  I have no information on Judith Lynch and would like to know if anyone knows her line.

[JB Note:  Now, folks, it’s a ‘fur peece” from Staten Island, which at that time had not become “the” Staten Island where so many later immigrants disembarked, to the rolling hills of Prince William County, Virginia.  Mark Hardin can be clearly accounted for in Prince William - more to follow in another issue - but I wonder what could have brought him from Staten Island to Prince William?  Does anyone have an answer, or even a legitimate speculation?  Maybe the study of Mark Hardin while a resident in Prince William will yield an answer.]

JUDY CANANT (AslanJ@aol.com) contributes a bundle of information which concerns our Taliaferro families, and a number of other early related families such as French, Peyton, and Gray. Thanks for this contribution, Judy.  I expect it’s benefit will exceed just the Taliaferro lines.

****I read with interest the article on the TALIAFERROs, MADISONs and FRENCHes.  I am a direct descendant of Hugh FRENCH and am glad to share an outline tree of my FRENCH line as it relates to the Taliaferros mentioned. I, too, subscribe to the VA Genealogist, and want to offer thanks to Margaret Amundson, who wrote the article about the FRENCH family last year.  I called Mrs Amundson and she helped me understand the marriages of Daniel FRENCH, as well as sending me part of her manuscript on the upcoming book about the FRENCH family.  Very little has been done to correct the mistake that is so often shown in publications - that is the marriage of Daniel French to Margaret BIRKITT PRATT, widow. She was his second wife and there was no issue from that union.  His first wife was a Miss PEYTON.  I have her lineage but not her Christian name.  I do not believe that it is available as I have researched the PEYTON and DADE families to find her name with no results.  There is documentary evidence that Margaret PRATT FRENCH went to court to try to preserve the property and money that she brought into her marriage with Daniel FRENCH.  His will did not take care of that and who can blame her for being huffy about wanting what was her own.  His children from his marriage to Miss PEYTON (Mrs DADE) were to recieve much of what was rightfully Margaret's (wouldn't you have loved to be a fly on the wall while that disagreement was in course??)  For the information of your Taliaferro descendants who may have connections to the FRENCH family, here is the correct scoop on Daniel's marriages, as well as some of the other parts of the family.

Hugh FRENCH, Daniel FRENCH, Margaret FRENCH who m James Lawrence STROTHER,
Mary STROTHER who m George GRAY, I, Capt George W GRAY, Jr RS, m Mildred
Rootes THOMPSON, Mary Strother GRAY m Robert Ambrose CAMP, Mildred Ann CAMP
m James Francis MILLER, James Francis MILLER, Jr m Martha Ann GRAY, Jane Dugan MILLER m Charles X BALFOUR, Jane Gray BALFOUR m Hiatt Beeson PRESNELL, and I am Judith Ann PRESNELL who m A E CANANT, Jr. (whew!)

Descendants of Hugh French
 
1  Hugh French   b: abt 1645; d: November 12, 1701 in Richmond Co, VA, Parish of St Mary's -Will date-20 Jan 1699/00, proved 12-3-1701
     -+Mary (Brown) Triplett
           *2nd Wife of Hugh French: -+Margaret, b abt  1655 in VA      m: May 7, 1685; d: Aft.   1706 in VA
 2      Mary French     b: 1688
 2      Hugh French, Capt, b: abt 1686 in of Stafford Co, VA; d: 1737 in Died at Sea on Ship from London, travelling with Cpt Augustine Washington
---+Betty, d: Aft. 1740
---3  Hugh French III, d: aft October 21, 1739 in Stafford Co, Va - date of Will - Will proved May 15, 1740
------+Betty Brittingham        b: in Pomomoke; m: Bef. 1738 - Father: Nathaniel Brittingham
-----   4  Mayson French        b: Bef. 1739
-----   4  Rachel French        b: Aft. 1739
---3  Daniel French     b: ABT  1710
---3  Mason French                      d: 1752 in Stafford Co, VA
---3  Elizabeth French
---3  Margaret French
---3  Ann French
*2nd Wife of Hugh French, Capt:
---+Mary Brown Triplett
 2  Daniel French, Sr   b: ABT  1689 in Old Rappahannock, Va - later owned land next to Mount Vernon; d: March 5, 1735/36 in (This could be date of Will) King George Co, Va - death said in other places to be Stafford  Co in 1748 (??)   (I don't yet have a copy of his will to clarify this)
---+Miss Peyton         m: ABT  1714    d: Bef. 1725    Father: Robert Peyton, Immigrant
---3  Margaret French, b: Aft. 1715 in King George Co, VA; d: Bef. July 2, 1760 in Culpeper Co, VA
------+James Lawrence Strother  b: ABT  1700 in lived in King George Co, VA m: 1736 in King George Co, VA (between June and Nov)    d: 1761 in Culpeper CO, VA (before July 2, 1760?)   Father: Jeremiah "Jeremy" Strother; Mother: Eleanor Savage
-----   4  Jane Strother        b: Aft. 1736
-----   4  French "The Fearless" Strother       b: ABT  1737 in King George Co, Va          d: June 3, 1800 in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Co, VA
--------+Lucy Coleman   b: ABT  1733 in Caroline Co- Father: Robert Coleman
Mother: Sarah Anne Saunders
--------5  George French Strother, b: Aft. 1755 in Culpeper - was lawyer; d: 1840 in St Louis, MO
-----------     +Sarah Green Williams, m: 1807 -Father: James Williams, Gen; Mother: Green
--------*2nd Wife of George French Strother:
-----------+Theodosia Hunt              m: ABT  1812
--------5  Margaret French Strother     b: Aft. 1758
-----------     +Philip Pendleton Slaughter, Capt       b: December 4, 1758 in Culpeper Co, VA      m: February 5, 1780     d: 1849 in Culpeper Co, VA Father: James Slaughter, Col    Mother: Susan Clayton
--------5  Gilley Coleman Strother      b: ABT  1761
-----------     +John Evans, Jr Capt    b: ABT  1775    m: November 20,1800    d: 1843 Father: John Evans, Sr
--------5  Lucy Coleman Strother        b: ABT  1763            d: in d young
--------5  Eliza French Strother        b: ABT  1765; d: in she disappeared
-----------     +John? Nimrod Evans, Col; m: December 29, 1801 - Father: John Evans, Sr
--------5  [2] Mary Strother    b: ABT  1767
-----------     +[1] Daniel Gray        b: Aft. 1745    m: in They were first cousins. Father: George Gray I   Mother: Mary Strother
--------5  Daniel French Strother, b: ABT  1769; d: ABT  1840 in Was in City of Louisville, Jefferson Co, KY 1830 census
-----------+Fannie Thompson; Father: John Thompson, Judge       Mother:
-----   4  Mary Strother, b: ABT  1739 in King George Co, Va; d: Bef. 1809 in llived in Stafford Co,VA
--------+George Gray I  b: ABT  1700 in ? date?  Westmoreland CO,  VA   m: ABT  1739 in ?1-21-1758?? Children's dates could be incorrect   d: Bef.1803 in Westmoreland Co      Father: Nathaniel Jones Gray    Mother: Mary Monroe
--------5  Nathaniel Gray       b: ABT  1743
--------5  [1] Daniel Gray      b: Aft. 1745
-----------+[2] Mary Strother   b: ABT  1767.  They were first cousins   - Father: French "The Fearless" Strother  Mother: Lucy Coleman
--------5  Mary Gray, (Poss Sister - this not proven)   b: Aft. 1747 in VA
-----------+Henry Grass, b: ABT  1759  m: August 11, 1783 in Lincoln City, KY; d: December 1828 in KY
--------5  George Weedon Gray, Capt. Rev.S., b: May 13, 1748 in Prob b.1740, Stafford CO, VA - enlisted from Culpeper, VA for Rev Serv; d: December 2, 1823 in Jefferson CO, KY
-----------     +Mildred Rootes Thompson        b: September 12, 1761 in
Culpeper CO, VA m: ABT  1781 in VA  d: February 21, 1828 in Jefferson CO, KY  Father: John Thompson, The Rev. Mother: Elizabeth Rootes
--------5  James Gray   b: January 21, 1758 in Stafford, VA             d: ABT  1820
-----------+Martha Foster, d: ABT  1833 in Madison Co, TN
--------5  Margaret Strother Gray, b: July 20, 1768 in Culpeper Co, VA; d: Sep 21, 1838            -----------+Judge James Slaughter, b: ABT  1764 in Culpeper Co, VA - Nelson Co, KY c 1787; m: ABT  1786    d: December 25,1846  -  Father: James Slaughter, Col Mother: Susan Clayton
--------5  Son Gray
-----   4  James Strother, b: ABT  1741; d: Aft. March 12, 1764 in Stafford Co, VA date of Will - never m. -
---3  Daniel French, Jr, b: 1723 in King George Co, VA - lived at Rose Hill, 5 mi S of Alexandria; d: May 25, 1771 in Fairfax Co, VA - tombstone moved to Pohick Ch yd early 1900's               ------+Penelope Manley, m: ABT 1744    d: ABT  1771 in Will proved Fairfax Co, VA 1771 Father: John Manley
-----   4  Elizabeth French     b: 1755
--------+Benjamin Taskar Dulany, b: in Anapolis, MD     m: Aft. February 4,1773 in date of pre-nuptial agreement Fairfax co, VA
--------5  John Peyton Dulany               *2nd Wife of Daniel French, Sr:
---+Margaret (Birkett) Pratt,  m: Bef. May 3, 1728 in he married her later, after children - no issue, d: Bef. March 2, 1748/49 in King George Co, VA Father: John Birkett    Mother: Ann Mills
 2  Margaret French     b: ABT  1690 in (Old) Rappahannock Co, VA; d: Aft. June 19, 1723 in (bef1726)
---+Robert Taliaferro II        b: ABT  1686    m: Aft. 1705 in (bef 8-10-1710)      d: June 6, 1726 in King George Co, VA   Father: Robert Taliaferro, Jr  Mother: Sarah Catlett
---3  Anne Taliaferro   b: ABT  1708
---3  Elizabeth Taliaferro      b: Aft. 1710
------+Roger Madison    b: ABT  1700    m: Aft. 1740    d: in He did not die in1755 - was still living 1769  -  Father: John Madison Mother: Isabel Minor Todd
-----   4       Elizabeth Madison
--------+Moore
-----   4       Frances Madison
--------+Collins
-----   4       Margaret French Madison
-----   4       Ambrose Madison
-----   4       Mary Madison    b: Aft. 1740
--------+Richard Collins                m: Aft. 1760
-----   4       Ann Madison     b: ABT  1753
--------+Henry Cox              m: April 5, 1773 in Charlotte Co, VA
 
---3  Samuel Taliaferro b: ABT  1716 in Albamarle CO, Va
        -----   4       Francis Taliaferro, b: ABT  1745; d: Aft. April 29, 1821 in Todd Co, Ky - will proved & recd 12 June, 1826
--------5  Nancy French Taliaferro, b: ABT  1770
-----------     +Edrington
 2  Mason French, b: ABT  1693 in Old Rappahannock, VA; d: 1746 in Westmoreland Co, VA
---+Unknown.  m: ABT  1714 in VA
---3  Hugh French, b: 1715 in of St Mary's Parish, Richmond Co, VA; d: ABT 1771 in Prince William Co, VA -
------+Margaret Gervase Jarvis  b: October 28, 1720 in Westmoreland Co, VA; m: ABT  1736 in VA
-----   4 Daniel French, b: Aft. 1736 in Richmond Co, VA; d: ABT  1807 in
Adair  Co, KY
--------+Mildred Strother,b: ABT  1740; m: ABT  1758 in Richmond Co, VA
        --------5  Nancy French b: 1759-1763
-----------+James Richardson
--------5  John Elson French, b: November 2, 1760 in Richmond Co, VA; d: February 17, 1845 in DeWitt Co, ILL
-----------+Dolly Spencer, m: ABT  1782 in Bedford Co, VA
--------5  James French b: ABT  1761            d: Bef. 1855 in ILL or IN
 
-----------     +Barberry Key           m: March 9, 1784
--------5  Daniel "Dal" French  b: 1764 in VA
-----------     +Ann Guthrie    b: Aft. 1764 in VA, m: March 24, 1785 in
Bedford Co, VA  d: November 2, 1861 in Indiana, perhaps  -  Father: Henry
Guthrie Mother: Penelope Johnson
--------5  Hugh French, b: 1765 ; d: 1857 in Russell Co, KY
-----------     +Julia Ann French
--------5  Richard French, b: ABT  1767
-----------     +Diney Greer            m: February 22, 1800
-----   4  William French, b: 1744; d: Bef. 1800
--------+Rachael
---3  Robert French, b: 1717 in VA; d: 1743
------+Mary Mosby
 *2nd Wife of Mason French:
---+Catherine Ellis, m: ABT  1719
---3  Daniel French,    b: Aft. 1717; d: 1756 in Stafford Co, VA
---3  Mason French      b: ABT  1720 in VA; d: April 12, 1752 in VA
------+Margaret Johnson Lacy
---3  John French       b: 1725
------+Margaret Burgess
---3  Margaret French   b: Bef. 1729
------+Original Bowleg (yes, that is what it said)
 
RESEARCH

CAROLINE BURNETT COOK (CarBurCo) submits the contents of the will of Harry  Taliaferro, 1803.  Thanks so much for adding this to our TT anthology, Caroline.

****I got this from Va-Roots, sent in by ssAntient@aol.com:

Culpeper Will Book E:
Will of HARRY TALIAFERRO made 21 Jan 1803, rec 19 Sept 1803. Wife Elizabeth, my houses and lott in Stevensburg. son Lindsay and John (his wife Alice) He more or less disinherits Son Lindsay son Harry, daughters Caty and Judith Taliaferro, Elizabeth Leckie, Alice Thorn, Nancy Crain, Lucy and Melinda Taliafero  Wife Elizabeth, Executrix.  Executors son Harry, William Powell and Marshall Petty. More from Caroline’s roving on the internet:

***This from VA-Roots.

The following are taken from the Stafford County Order Book, 1790-1793
 
Court 12 June 1790
JOHN ALEXANDER and Wife v SUSANNAH ALEXANDER and PEARSON CHAPMAN,
Administrators of JOHN ALEXANDER, deced., It is decreed by the Court that the Plaintiffs by their Bill recover the sum of one thousand five hundred pounds, ten shillings and that JOHN TALIAFERRO,  TOWNSEND DADE, SENR., WILLIAM G. STUART, WILLIAM MOOR, SENR. and Capt. MICHAEL WALLACE or any three of them value the property of JOHN ALEXANDER, deced., and profits thereof which have come in the possession of the Defendants; WILLIAM ROBERTS and THOMAS ALEXANDER and that WILLIAM HURBERT,  WILLIAM BROWN, JOHN FITZGERALD, ROBERT TOWNSEND MOOR and DAVID STUART or any three value the property of JOHN ALEXANDER, deceased, and the profits thereof which has come to the possession of ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, now ELIZABETH WASHINGTON, and CHARLES ALEXANDER and do estimate thehire of certain Negro fellows which the Complainants have kept in their possession for the term of twenty seven years;  Court  13 September 1790
 

MISCELLANY

The reference in the items submitted by Caroline, and appearing under “Research” were submitted to Virginia-Roots by <<  ssAntient@aol.com  >>

Those familiar with Virginia research will probably recognize this as the ‘signature’ of  Sam Sparacio who, with his wife Ruth, has employed his talents and intellect to ease the search for Virginia families. Since we are all indebted to this couple, I thought you might enjoy knowing a little more about them.

Ruth and Sam Sparacio have lived in the McLean, Virginia home in northern Virginia since 1959, when Sam left the State Department to work for the U.S. Information Agency.  They met in Teheran in 1946, where both were State Department employees, and married in 1948.  He retired on Columbus Day, 1976.  In 1979 they began researching Ruth’s family in Orange County, Virginia.  This led to the publication of “Pamunkey Neighbors” in 1985.  At that point, feeling familiar with the process of searching through county records, they began abstracting the county records of Orange county.  Later that year, they published two books on Orange County  abstracts.  They publish themselves under the name Antient Press.

A conversation with personnel at the Virginia Room of the Fairfax City Regional Library led them to undertake abstracting the Fairfax County records.  In 1986 they published their first two books of Fairfax deed abstracts.  They have now completed 23 books of Fairfax abstracts, along with 41 more books covering Stafford, King George, Prince William, Loudoun, and Fauquier.  Their total number of books published in their Virginia County Records series is 396.

Their early work was done with originals at the various county courthouses. When it became easier for them to stay at home, they bought two microfilm readers and borrowed films of county records from the Virginia State Library, working through the Fairfax County Library.

Up until a few years ago Ruth did all of the abstracting and Sam did the typing.  Vision problems have caused some difficulty for Ruth, so today she does the indexes to all of their publications.  Sam estimates that he can do a Loudoun County  book in about fifteen working days, while a Lancaster book can take an entire month.  His familiarity with the handwriting and family names is the key to speed and accuracy.