Dear Cousins, I have consistently found the land records to be the most fascinating and relevatory "official" contemporaneous portrait of those elusive rascals who became our ancestors. There are many types of land records -- the most helpful are the actual deeds and patents, of course, and these often give details of family relationships -- as in cases when the deed record substitutes for a will as a means of devising property. Other information sometimes refers to property elsewhere, providing a clue to the ancestor's last place of residence, or sometimes to a relative's place of residence. Tax assessments reflect property ownership and can thereby be said to be a land record. Land records of this type are wonderful because they provide a listing (like the census) of the various neighbors as well, and show proximities to one another. They can be used in conjunction with the census to expand the picture of your families and their kith and kin. (Do you know what kith is???????) Military pensions and grants reflect another aspect of land records, with faithful supporters receiveing land in payment for their services. After the Revolutionary War land was doled out in the "west" which had previously been held by the Indians, and in the south, other Indian lands were opened to white settlement as a result of the cessations (principally) in Georgia. Georgia lands were offered up in lotteries beginning around 1800 and continued through the 1830's when Andrew Jackson offered up resettlement in newly created "Indian Territory" at the end of the Trail of Tears as the final solution to the Indian problem. In the Delaware Hundred of Baltimore County I have used and compared the Census, Assessment Lists, Deeds, Wills, Military Records and Family histories as a means of identifying my Pennington/Pemberton family. This is a particularly interesting (and frustrating) study, and I believe it is fairly representative of the struggle many of us have when dealing with families of the Back Country and Frontiers, for it shows how lists help and hurt, and how name changes and spelling changes can defeat us when out targets move on to the next Crossroads. It also shows how the kith and kin can be effectively used as identification, and re-identification. Remember that "some stayed put, and some rode on." Comparisons between the two can substantiate identity. Your own research can help enormously in these Crossroads localities. I have found that families of the Philadelphia Perimeter (this includes Maryland, NJ, DE) wended their way to Virginia, NC, SC, GA, and on to the West. These same type of comparisons can help pain a full picture. You will undoubtedly recognize southern and western (KY, OH, WVA, etc.) conections in the Delaware Upper Hundred. You may be surprised to learn (as I was) that these names reappear in your own backyards. The given name "Indemnion" occurs with Bakers and Penningtons in Kentucky, and the surname "Woolery," recurs where I grew up in Morrow County, Oregon over two hundred years later. I am using the new images at Ancestry.com to illustrate some of this. They are just great. The pages at the website are temporarily down at Rootsweb, and they are working on getting the problem fixed. I hope to have these new Delaware Hundred pages up soon thereafter. Love, Your Kith/Kin Cousin, Carolyn Carolyn McDaniel cmacdee@teleport.com ================================== --- Visit American Crossroads --- http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads