Good Morning: The key family in some of these Eastern NC folks may well be the family of John WILLIAMS, Sr. and Ann or Mary WHITNEY of Lower Parish, IOW County, VA. Some want to show them as being from York County, when they may have been at one time, but I am pretty sure they or their descendants end up in IOW. This is why we have not been able to make any sense of this mess. I do not know whether the following are children of John, Sr. or his son, John, II but I think, John II based upon their DOB's Anyway, let's assume for the moment they were children of John WILLIAMS II and he may have even married a WHITNEY or WHITLEY. Regardless, their children: 1. Ann WILLIAMS b. ABT 1690 married Samuel HERRING b. ABT 1682 in IOW County, VA. She died AFT 1769 in ,Wayne County, NC 2. Mary WILLIAMS b. ABT 1690 married his brother, Abraham HERRING b. ABT 1684 in IOW County, VA. This is not fixed in stone but it seems to be that way. Abraham HERRING died in Bertie County, NC. 3. John WILLIAMS (maybe IV) b. 1679 married Mary KEELING b: 26 SEP 1684 4. Theophilus WILLIAMS -- I would almost bet some of this family was tied to the PUGHS because Theophuilus was a big name in that family. The reason this WILLIAMS family is important is because Mary WILLIAMS married John DANIELL II and her sister, Sarah WILLIAMS married William DANIELL and these folks were from York County, VA whose families often migrated into IOW. Once we tie in John WILLIAMS and Mary KEELING family into this eastern NC bunch it starts to make a lot more sense because we start picking up names that are also down in NC, as well as GA, especially those big COFFEE and GRAVES connections. Some of these names are also names on Bertie area deed, too but not the COFFEE and the GRAVES.... I am not against the possibility that the William DANIEL we see later in Bertie County, NC, who is tied to the same locations and deeds in which Owen O'DANIEL is included, is not a descendant of this DANIEL family. I am also not against the idea this Owen O'DANIEL, who was the father of Frederick O'DANIEL who married Charity WHITFIELD, is not related to this DANIEL family in some way. The reason being -- Owen O'DANIEL and William DANIEL are on many of the early (pre-1730) deeds of the same families and lived very close together, although their names were spelled, differently, on the deeds they were both on. Maybe someone has some thoughts on this. Somewhere in all of this mess is the truth but I only have a partial glimpse of it..... John R. Clarke Thomasville, GA