Josie, I can suggest one thing now -- the William B. Preston is likely some part of the William and Susanna (Smith) Preston family that I'm about 99.9 % sure is a part of my Smith, Watts, Markham/Marcum, etc. etc. family of SW Virginia. They are also connected to Cousin Kay's Sayers and Buchannon lines. There are Breckenridges, Harts, and Floyds as well. The Smiths were in Hanover County, VA, then Louisa, then Botetourt, then everywhere. I have a copy of the Preston/Floyd Bible up on American Crossroads, along with a preliminary survey of my Smith findings. Haven't gotten it finished. *page 3* therefore will not load. http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads/Smith/index.html It appears to me from the names that a batch of Hanover people went into the Virginia Southside counties -- Lunenberg, Pittsylvania, etc. then crossed over the line into North Carollina. (There were difficulties knowing where the line was, it seems. ) Some of the Penningtons seem to have been a part of this, and also McDaniels. The problem is whether they came directly into the Southside from Maryland and the Philadelphia Perimeter, or from Hanover County, which had a batch of Quakers there. This difficullty comes from the Hanover County records having been destroyed. (A lunatic, this time, not damnyankees, Josie!) I have copies of Hanover County Vestry records, however, so it helps some if your ancestors were Church of England. The Smiths and Prestons have tremendous connection and significance to SW Virginia heritage. Thomas Ballard Smith, Granville Smith and Parke or Park Smith were three distinctively named brothers of Susanna, along with John Smith. Thank God a few had distinctive names because they are headed by a John Smith who was the father of Francis, who was Susanna's father. If you have further interest in the Prestons, take a look at Fred Preston's pages: http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/quarrybank/194/sfwilliam.htm Fred is not a genealogist but he has collected some very good things. I feel the Smith Genealogy is mixed up, but........... someday, I'll take a shot at untangling it. Maybe I'll even get my third page put up. Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn Carolyn McDaniel cmacdee@teleport.com ========================================= --- Visit American Crossroads --- http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads