2013 Change Log

20 Dec 2013Updated website. The Washington Co. page has a new image gallery featuring many of the photos that formerly graced the front page of this site: Washington Co. scenes.

Added a new Virginia to Texas Settlers map showing the location of clusters of Washington Co. families who settled in Texas. This is a sister map to the Virginia to Missouri Settlers map I added some time ago. Both maps are linked via the "Misc. Locations" menu at the top of any page.
Added a case to the Chancery Records page wherein the administrators of Richard Montgomery (d. 1863) asked to be relieved of the responsibility of managing the part of the estate owed to several of Richard's siblings who had left Virginia and could not be located. Affidavits establish the spouses and children of Richard's sisters Nancy Snodgrass and Elisabeth Scott.

Activated pages for the children of Fred McKinley Thompson (thanks to Tanya Wonnell).
Thank you to Libby George who shared images from an old Hutton Bible as well as additional research. I have updated the page for William Hutton and activated pages for most of his children to include son William Leonard Hutton and his wife Dorcus Perdue. Also added a page for her father Robert Perdue and several of her siblings.

Updated several pages for descendants of Mary Jane (Buchanan) Durell and of her sister Margaret Lavinia (Buchanan) Hale. Also thanks to Sam Davidson, Alicia Fox and Shannon Chamberlain for their help with the Gardner/McCamant project. And thank you to Charlie Barnette for updated/additional Dickenson/Gardner photos from Old Glade Spring Cemetery.
Mark Hall shared a photo of Joseph Snodgrass Hutton with his wife Mary Love (Clark) Henderson Pafford Hutton and several family members. It can be found on the Scrapbook Group photo page or under the Related Images section of both Joseph and Mary's pages. Grant Cowlthorp shared photos of Teresa (Bishop) Brouhard (she was the d/o Susannah Hutton and Wm Bishop).

Added an image to the Any Beattie which shows a portion of the Bill of Complaint in a case referred from Washington Co. to the Augusta Co., VA Chancery Ct. in which the executors of John Beattie sued Edward Crawford. The image provides the often discussed but seldom sourced proof that John Beattie and Francis Beattie were brothers.
Added a new indirect proof summary titled "One Isabella Hutton or Two?" to the Any Hutton research page. This deals with the question of whether Isabella, wife of Samuel C. Hutton, was the daughter of James Hutton and Isabel Orr.

If you are a Hutton researcher, especially a descendant of Lilburn Logan Hutton or Sarah Jane (Hutton) Walden be sure to also read the analysis of Samuel and Isabella Hutton's household which has been linked from the "Any Hutton" page for some time.

Also transcribed the Bill of Complaint from a Chancery case styled Mary G. (Buchanan) Cunningham, Committee [of Jannet Buchanan] vs Sarah Jane Walden and others. It can be found on the Chancery Records page. Added information to Mary's page about her 1859 divorce from Calvin Cunningham (I didn't abstract this one for the Chancery Records page; contact me if you would like a copy of the case).
Thank you to Jim Ballard for sharing the contents of a letter written by Gen. Wm "Grumble" Jones to Adam Rosenbalm during the Civil War; also for contributing research leading to a page for Louis Authenrieth and his wife Mary Jane Debusk.

Added page for Jacob Susong. Many thanks to Leslie Stewart who located a King Co., Washington marriage certificate for Nancy Margaret (Hutton) Galliher wihch identified a previously unknown second marriage. The hidden gem in the certificate was the name of Nancy's parents: Moses Hutton and Nancy Jenkins. This raises the possibility that Moses and Nancy's Washington Co. marriage certificate naming Nancy as Nancy Jinks was an 1820 clerk's "typo". If nothing else, it suggests avenues for additional research. I also updated my Research Comments at the bottom of Moses Hutton's page.
Added a comment to the pages of Mathew Ryburn and his sister Ann (Ryburn) Buchanan that clarifies when they arrived in Washington Co., VA from Pennyslvania. The information was found among the pages of an Augusta Co. Chancery Ct. case styled James Dysart vs Administrator of Hugh Johnston, etc.

Expanded the narrative of Eliza Elizabeth (Maiden) Butt Caldwell to include information from a post Civil War deed. Added pages for Campbell Scott and his wife Celie Edwards. The couple were both slaves in Washington Co. households prior to the Civil War. Expanded the pages of Felix Widener and his wife Mary Emeline Larimer.
Added a page for Philip Barrick as well as for his daughters Phoebe Ellander Renshaw, Elizabeth (Barrick) Buchanan and Catharine (Barrack) Buchanan; also for selected of their children; also for spouses Joseph Buchanan and Samuel Buchanan. In addition, added a page for Joseph Redshaw and for his son Joseph Jr. Many of these early family lines have now been documented for several generations of descendants. If I've missed any children for David Buchanan I hope someone will let me know (the count is presently 18).

I would like to especially thank April Pastis of the website www.heycuz.net for sharing images from the Bible of Nancy (Buchanan) Duff as well as from the Bible of William Buchanan. Both individuals were children of Samuel Buchanan and Catherine Barrick (images are linked via the Scrapbook Text page.
Added a narrative page for Absalom A. Beattie which includes research from a Chancery case filed after Absalom's death by his widow. Also added pages for Absalom's 2 wives, and created a "house" page for the Absalom Beattie home.

Added information for Evaline (Gray) Bradley Preston. Added pages for the children of John Breckenridge and Nancy G. Clark. Thank you to Mary Peterson for sharing her research on the children of Susannah Hutton and William Bishop.
2 Sep 2013Updated website. This update includes the results of an ongoing collaboration with Robert Gardner to preserve and share his many years of Gardner research. As part of that project numerous photos were added to various narrative pages. A plat of Jeremiah Gardner's Washington Co. land was added to the Land Plats page, and two plat pages were added to a new Texas entry under the Misc. Locations tab. If you are a Gardner or McCamant researcher please explore the various narrative pages; corrections and additional photos would be welcome.

Gloria Dillard and Daphne Davis both shared photos and information on the line of Alexander Smith McCamant and his wife Sallie Larzalere Lucinda Beach Gardner. James Edwin Gardner Jr. contributed dates for Sula Rebecca (Tarver) Gardner.
A major thank you to Bob and Donna Jean Ford for sharing their completed abstract of the full 558 pages of Survey Book 2 which spans 1797-1836. Bob and Donna Jean have abstracted the name of the person for whom each survey was made, the date and acreage, a brief description of the property, the surveyor's name and the warrant number.

In addition, they inventoried early Washington County waterway names from deeds and surveys and chronicled how the names changed through the years.

Both documents are available on the Washington Co. Land Records page.
Located a second marriage for Mary (Talbert) Logan, the widow of Samuel Logan. Thank you to the Rev. Phillip Kestner for sharing information on the family of Samuel Logan's son Samuel Talbert Logan. Thank you also to John Walton for sharing a photo of the old John Porterfield Clark home as well as additional information on John's son John Henry Clark, and his family. Added a narrative page for Samuel Joseph McCall Hutton - thanks to Kathy Edwards!
Thank you to Charlie Barnette and Carol Hawthorne for their unwavering support. Their efforts to identify, photograph and record headstone data from Washington Co. cemeteries, especially hard to reach and previously unidentified ones, is a true gift to all of us. For this update Charlie shared missing or updated photos for the following cemetery pages (linked from the Washington Co. page) Bethel Cemetery (Grant, Gray, Lowry, Reed), Moore Cemetery (Keys), Susong Cemetery (Susong, Marchent).
Added narrative page for William Henry Hall (includes will) and his first wife Mary D. (Duff) Hall. Thank you to Andy Doss for information on the will of John Byars and George Thomasson. A very overdue thank you to Jane Carty for a copy of the marriage license of James Thomas Carmack and Sarah Rebecca (Carpenter) Carmack which reveals that the date typically reported for their marriage was actually the license date. If you are a Ryburn, Carmack, Carpenter, Sheffey, etc. researcher please read the Research Note at the bottom of Sarah's page.
Added a narrative page for Eliza Kennedy (Edmondson) Campbell; thanks to Carolyn Ryburn for her help with this family. Modified the page for Nancy (Keys) Reid (as regards a daughter Jane) and added a page for Nancy's husband Hugh Reid/Reed.

Added a narrative page for Ann C. (Edmondson) Snodgrass which includes two photos of Ann from the digital collection of the Historical Society of Washington Co., Virginia. Also from their files: a photo including several Washington Co. ladies (added to the Group Photos section of the Scrapbook page). Thanks to Martha Keys for her help and also for information about the murder of Christopher Ryburn Wedding.
Patricia Johnson, who authored several manuscripts on the Fields family, has an updated email address which can be accessed via the link in the footnotes section of the Fields narrative pages, eg: Sarah Ann Fields).

Eric Clark shared a photo of Rev. Crawford B. Clark, a son of Lilburn Clark and Margaret Buchanan. Rev. Clark visited Mrs. Lizzie Ryburn at Glade Spring in 1906 and recorded anecdotes that led to the oft cited "James Clark Sr. immigration story". Lizzie was James' granddaughter.
Richard Shortt shared photos of Americus DeLafayette Shortt and his wife Dorcas Eleanor (Hayter) Shortt, as well as a photo of their home dated 1879 (look about half way down the Homes & Buildings Page). New pages were added for Americus and Dorcas as well as for James C. Hayter, his wife Tabitha Fullen and their other 5 children.

Jenny Dunn identified the full name for the second husband of Sallie B. Dunn.
Lisa McHenry shared a photo of Samuel Porter Edmondson and Elizabeth Katherine (Alderson) Edmondson and 16 other family members on the porch of the family home near Lodi. This photo contains a lot of detail and portions have been cropped and added to the appropriate narrative pages.

Juanita Pinkston shared a more formal photo of Samuel and Elizabeth and their children that appears to have been taken the same day. The photo is unusual for the period in that it was "colorized". The two photos are linked via the Group Photos page as well as the pages of each family member. Even if you are not an Edmondson descendant you should take a peek at them.

Additionally, thank you to David Fridley, an Alderson researcher, who answered my plea for help finding Samuel and Elizabeth in 1900 and who provided additional research.
Added newspaper image about a fire (1873) at the home of Claiborne Lewis Shugart (see link under "Related Images" section of his page). If anyone has information on the Old Shugart Inn please let me know.

A huge thank you to Kathy Luebeck who provided me with the middle name of James Allison Davis, grandson of John and Mary Davis (my 4th great grandparents). This lent needed support to the long held belief that Mary's maiden name was Allison. Kathy also shared considerable information on James and his family including a photo of James' son Robert. Jane Sewell also expanded my records on the Davis family by contributing photos and data for Benjamin Talmage Davis as well as images of a Davis Bible probably owned by Ben. It also contains data on earlier generations (see the Scrapbook page).
Added pages for Moses Edmiston and his wife Rachel. Expanded narrative for Moses Edmiston. Added dates of birth and death for Sallie J. "Kate" (Neff) Clark (courtesy Carol Lockas). Updated and expanded the family information for John Griffith Rogan Davis and Margaret P. Sophia (Hortenstine) Davis - thank you to Paula Nixon for sharing information on this family. Updated the pages for James Kincannon Smyth and Isabella Breckenridge (Clark) Smyth to provide additional information on the land Isabella purchased when they returned to VA from TN.
Added a new "Robinson" page under Surname Notes. At present, this page features a position paper titled "Who was Jane Robinson?". It is an analysis of the Edmiston and Robinson men who contested Jane's 1835 will and resolves the question of Jane's relationship to them.

Also added two new "house" pages for my "Old Stage Rd." project: one page for the E.A. Robinson brick house and the other for the Talbot/Stage Coach Inn. Both houses were built on land settled by Francis Kincannon. In addition, created a page showing how these and 3 other structures were built on Francis Kincannons two 1785 grants. See: Francis Kincannon Grants on the Old Stage Rd. Thank you to Margaret Kincannon for her most excellent help on the Kincannon family.

Bob and Donna Jean Ford shared a photo of the first Brook Hall.
Posted additional research work on the Robinson family to include narrative pages for: Alexander Robinson, his wife Mary, daughter Eliza, son Samuel Robinson and son James Robinson; also for John Robinson and his son John Robinson; also for Alexander Robinson. Added full dates of birth for Mitchell Robinson and his children. Also added a page for a second John Robinson who was also married to an Elizabeth. Thank you to Sherrie Ferguson for sharing her research on the Robinson family.

In previous editions of "RR" I had linked Mitchell and Rachel Robinson's daughter Elizabeth as the wife of William Lloyd (based on Mitchell's will referencing daughter Elizabeth Loyd). And I had assumed they were represented by household #1342 on the 1850 census (Wm and Elizabeth Loyd with children Letitia and Sophia). This was incorrect. I owe a major thank you to Connie Catron Miller for providing information from a Chancery suit (and other records) establishing that William Humphries Lloyd married #1Mary Elizabeth Catron and #2 Nancy Emeline (Rhea) Catron. Also corrected the date of birth for Solvey Zenna Catron. If you can shed light on which Loyd/Loyd Elizabeth Robinson did marry, I'd very much appreciate the information.
Added narrative page for Thomas McCulloch who died as the result of injuries sustained at the Battle of Kings Mtn; also a page for his son John McCulloch. Thank you to Charlie Barnette who shared cemetery photos.

Thank you to Joan & Larry Sells, and Paul Mannon for photos of Wm "Buck" Smyth and his second wife Elizabeth McClelland - also for a photo of the old Buck Smyth log cabin. I especially appreciate Joan and Larry, and Joan's mother driving to Washington Co. to confirm where the cabin stood (now gone).

Thanks to Dr. Joanna Owens who identified the former location of the old John Maiden home, and to Charlie Barnette and Tammy Martin who both drove Washington country roads looking for the house for me (its gone).

The approximate location of both homes is now indicated on the Washington County homes map.
Added cemetery information for Samuel Porter Edmondson and his wife Katherine (Alderson) Edmondson. Note the discrepancy in death dates for Samuel. Also added cemetery info for their children Mary, Charles and Thomas, and expanded narratives for Samuel's son Dr. Sidney Manson Edmondson and brother Andrew Edmondson (Note the addition of a previously unidentified son for Andrew). Thank you to Marda Gunter for contributing a photo of Samuel and for helping research this family.
Added will abstracts or transcriptions to the following narrative pages: Mitchell Robinson, James Snodgrass.

Added photo of the William Long Snodgrass home at Green Spring from the Jim Faris collection. Also added additional informaton on the family of William and his wife Sara Grant with assistance from Nickey Greene.
7 Jan 2013Updated website; added new photos for 2013 to the top of the Scrapbook and Washington Co. pages. Thank you again to Charlie Barnette for his wonderful images.
Added will of James McKee to his page. Also added page and will for Joanna McKee and Andrew McKee. Narrowed date of death for Andrew J. McKee. Added considerable new information for Jeremiah Caleb Gardner and his wife Margaret Edmiston; also for many of their descendants. Many thanks to Bob Gardner who shared his extensive knowledge of the Gardner family for this ongoing project. A new chart for Jeremiah and Margaret can be found HERE.
Jan 2013Removed James C. Preston from the "what happened to" page. Thank you to Charlotte Kensil for providing source material for James and his family. Added pages for William H. Beattie and his brother Joseph Thompson Beattie; expanded narrative for Alfred Moore Carter; added narratives for Benjamin Reed and wives; also for Samuel A. Preston and his wives Abigail Montgomery and Rebecca Snodgrass.
Corrected an error in reference to the will of Madison Monroe Ritchie where I stated that he remembered his adopted daughter Lucy Blevins. It should have read Lucy Brooks. Added will for Thomas Montgomery. Also added pages for his daughter Margaret (Montgomery) Beaty, her husband John Beaty and each of their 6 children. Much of this new information was found in a chancery case which is linked to Margaret's page or which can be found on the Chancery Records page. In total there are 16 new Beaty narratives.
Added narrative pages for the two children of Samuel A. Byars. Thank you to Steve McBride and Barbara Muller who located these two children and followed them as adults. Also for additional research on Samuel's 3rd wife, Sarah A. Thomas.

Added abstract of Washington Co. Survey Book 2 to the Grant, Deed and Survey Records page. A huge thank you to Bob and Donna Jean Ford for the hours and hours of time they spent reading and abstracting the old surveys.
The Smyth Co. VA Genealogical Society has digitized several old Bibles and placed the images on their website. One appears to have belonged to CW Beatie and Flora Bailey. The second one may have belonged to Minter Jackson. A review of both Bibles provided several new dates including the marriage date for Walter Beattie Jackson Jr. and Cloydine Dunn. To view these and several other Bibles on their site visit http://www.smythcountygs.org/Family_Bibles.html.
Added page for Jane (Sharp) McConkey as well as for her husband John McConkey and her father John Sharp. Added will transcriptions for Jane and for her father (thanks to Lee Bain for prompting me to take a second look at these families). Located a deed establishing that James Samuel Clark died between 4 Jan and 27 May 1892.

Added Polk Co. to the Missouri Settler's Map.
Added cause of death for Charles Alfred Clark. Added additional information establishing the identify of James Samuel Clark. Thank you to Elna King for sharing additional research on Mary J. Edmondson and to Jenny Dunn for the same on Georgeann Dunn.

Added information from a Chancery Ct. case to the page of Martha Elizabeth Henderson. The same case identified the date of death for Mathew Ryburn Henderson. Added narrative pages for Mitchell Wesley Pafford and his wife Martha Ann Kelly.
Added about 10 entries to the Any HUTTON page from Washington Co. Minute Books 2, 3 & 5. The entries are clustered in 1820, 1839 and 1841. Modified my Research Comments for William Ryburn to include Bob Ford's insight into the tax list collection dates for York Co., PA (impacts William's possible marriage date).

Remembered Jim Faris and added his name to the Fallen Leaves page.
Last Edited20 Dec 2013