Dear WW and Cousins on the List: I can't find how you got that address. Whatever it was, it is not about the Draper Papers. The addresses I mentioned were the Rootsweb site on the papers, and the Draper Manuscript Home Page. These addresses are: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/draper/ http://www.webpub.com/~jhagee/draper.html WW! Have you researched Obediah Woodson? He was one of the earliest militia commanders during what would become the French and Indian War (aka The Seven Years War.) I have him appearing in the Augusta County participation in the French and Indian War, which we are just approaching at the website from G. Washington's perspective. The backcountry paid a heavy price for occupying the Shawnee and Cherokee crossroads and territories. A quote from John Madison, Clerk of the Augusta Court: "Four families on their flight from a branch of New River this minute passed my house, who say that five men were murdered at the house of Ephraim Vause, on Roanoke, since the death of Col. Patton. {July 1755 at Draper's Meadows} 'Tis shocking to think of the calamity of the poor wretches who live on the Holston and New Rivers, who for upwards of a hundred miles have left their habitations, lost their crops and vast numbers of their stock. Could you see, dear friend, the women who escaped, crying after their murdered husbands, with their helpless children hanging on to them, it could but wound your very soul." Sounds rather like 2001, doesn't it? I have been reading and re-reading Frederick Kegley's excellent, excellent, "Kegley's Virginia Frontier." This was published about 1936 and is out of print, but I understand Heritage Books is offering a reprint for about $80. Our contemporary Kegley is Mary, who still lives in Wythe County and practices law there. She has continued the traditioin of excellence established by Frederick. You can find her books at: http://www.dnai.com/~skegley/KegleyBooks/ Others you will find interesting as we march up the Valley of Virginia (down is up here, or at least South is up) are those who moved from the initial settlements at Sherrando and Hopewell, those Scotch Irish Rowdies who came from the lower Susquahenna River and Lancaster County PA; the sturdy Germans, and the Philadelphia Perimeter hodgepodge (Delaware River Valley, Northern MD and Delaware people. And so we have Stephen Holsten or Holstein, Jacob Stover, Jost Hite, Peter Hogg, some Griffin/Griffiths and Peppers for our cousin Mary; Burtons for our cousin Beej, The Van Meters, The Sayers (Cousin Kay) , Lewis; Looneys who started out Lunas in PA, and the Dulas who ended up Dooleys in VA (Tom being the one of later infamy and song); Breckenridge, Campbell, Christian, Patton, Preston, McDonald/McDaniel, Vause families; John Smith whose son John was murdered right before his horrified eyes, and last but not least, our favorite gentleman, the young George Washington, as Eastern Virginia begins to join with the Backcountry. The more I study George Washington the more I admire him. I also feel if ever someone was born under a lucky star, it surely must have been him. More on this at the website soon. It is an exquisite day in Beautiful Eastern Oregon: crisp-clear and sunshiny. I hope the sun is shining on all of you as well. Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn cmacdee@centurytel.net -- Visit American Crossroads -- http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads/