Dear Cousins, I apologize for my long silence. I've been really stymied due to health difficulties, and also due to Internet Server Provider failures. I've only managed to access my old personal account at 2 or 3 in the morning, and then only long enough to retrieve e-mail messages. I've therefore been unable to manage the website because I'm shut down before I can get files uploaded. I started getting a new ISP and now they are 0 for 3 in attempts to get the new DSL service installed! Soooo, temporarily I am trying out AOL and you can reach me personally at twocatherd@aol.com In the interim, I have not accomplished a great deal at the website. I've uploaded a new page on the Baltimore Perimeter which locates Philadelphia Perimeter families who began moving further into the frontier reaches of the western shore. You can reach this page at http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~amxroads/Balto/index.html I will try to get the associated lists and pages up soon, but I am no longer making predictions. Stuff I had hoped to have up in January (particularly) in regard to the NW/SW Perimeter (NC and VA) still is not up. Mea Culpa, Jim! There are a variety of tax lists for the Baltimore County Hundreds beginning in 1701, which approximates the time frame for the initial settlers in the Baltimore Perimeter. Please examine these pages, and go back and examine the Philadelphia Perimeter pages. Delve into allied families. You will almost certainly find Surname roots of your 19th century KY, NC, SC, TN, etc. families. In the case of my own family beginnings, almost all of the later settlers in the South, Southwest and Midwest (KY, OH, WVA, etc.) came out of this region around the Delaware River. Originally I thought my McDaniels and Watts families emanated from Virginia to begin with, but the more I search, the clearer it becomes that the Backcountry or Frontier culture that kept migrating into the 19th century, came from the Philadelphia Perimeter. Complicating the research along the way is the general mis-identification of families and individuals through sloppy, endless repetitions of the most basic research errors. The principal mistake is never finding and using primary documents. Using secondary sources, "family information," or statements like, "many people think," "it is believed by most researchers," should set off flashing red lights and mega-decibel submarine Yah-oooooo-gah! warnings! Here is a long standing example. Edward Beeson (Beason/Beastin) was an immigrant to Pennsylvania in the first waves of Penn's Quaker settlers in the 1680's. His first wife Rachel is identified as a Pennington and her birthdate and birthplace are given in (secondary) records as Lancaster, Lancashire, England, where Edward was also born. This makes sense! Not much else about Edward and his wives does make sense. His 1st wife Rachel is plopped smack into the middle of Isaac Pennington's family (the Quaker writer, whose stepdaughter Guilielma Maria Springett married William Penn.) Now, this defies all logic and all genealogical basic principles. First, Isaac had no daughter Rachel. He did not live in Lancashire, and none of his children were born there. So why do people go endlessly on perpetuating this nonsensical lie about Rachel Pennington's roots? One webpage I visited which is connected with the Pennington "Research" Association reasons that because Edward Beeson willed a property purchased from Daniel Wharley/Worley to his children, and because Daniel Wharley was married to Isaac Pennington's daughter Mary, the writer concludes Voila! It is true that Rachel Pennington was Isaac's daughter! The truth is, Mary Pennington Wharley was Isaac and Mary's only daughter, and Guilielma (Isaac's stepdaughter) was married to William Penn. Penn gave many pieces of property to the Penningtons, to Daniel Ellwood, and additionally there were various purchasers who never came to America. Although there were various Wharleys in the Philadelphia Perimeter, I have found nothing that indicates Daniel and Mary (Pennington)Wharley ever came to America. Our (other) Cousin Jim descends from Isaac Pennington's son Edward who married Sarah Jennings, left one son Isaac, and died within two years after his arrival in Philadelphia. The research in this area is complicated further by the great mobility of the Quakers and their kinship families, by persons going back and forth between counties and colonies, and by our lack of recognition of individuals because of misspellings. Edward Beeson died with a will in Chester County, PA in 1712. He first lived at New Castle, which is now in Delaware. There are other Beasons (etc.) to be found in Cecil and Anne Arundel Counties, MD. Edward's son Richard was one of those who migrated to Hopewell MM in Frederick County, VA (first Orange) and later to Guilford County, NC. As we unravel errors, mysteries and missing links about one family who was an elemental part of the Backcountry Culture, we will find that other family puzzles will be solved as well. This is our AMXROADS mission, should you choose to accept it! I hope to be more efficient in pointing directions as my personal problems become resolved. Love, Your Cousin Carolyn twocatherd@aol.com